


Carnivore.

by softyjseo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Angst, Battle, CCG - Freeform, Exodius, Ghoul Taeyong, Inspired by Tokyo Ghoul, Investigator Youngho, Japan, M/M, Mentioned EXO, Mentions of Blood, Mild Gore, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 05:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16613186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softyjseo/pseuds/softyjseo
Summary: Taeyong wasn't an ordinary college student, no matter how much he wanted to be. According to society, he was a murderous creature, always hungry and deathly. In his mission to prove the world otherwise he's presented with Seo Youngho, a ghoul investigator with a plan and a strange fixation for him.''We're not here to kill you, Taeyong.''''You're what?''''We're here to ask you for help.''





	Carnivore.

**Author's Note:**

> HellO!
> 
> Holy smokes this has been in the works for literal ages, and I apologize for the wait. It turned out to be longer than I had planned at first, and I went a little crazy with the storyline. I forced myself to tone it down a little, otherwise this would have been at least 40k worth of words haha. This story was inspired by one of my own tweets and I got so into it that I just went for it and wrote it.
> 
> DISCLAIMER/TRIGGER WARNINGS:  
> I DO NOT THINK BY ANY MEANS THAT MY CHARACTERS PORTRAY THE PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS STORY IN REAL LIFE. I altered their characters to fit the story, and I would never believe and think that the members would actually do some of the things they do in this story. The Tokyo Ghoul universe, for those of you who don't watch anime which is completely fine, isn't mine either. I just took the universe and created a story of my own with it, and I by no means take credit for the art that is the Tokyo Ghoul universe.  
> TRIGGER WARNINGS CONTAIN: dismemberment, slight gore, descriptions of ghoul eating human flesh, mention of suicide (it's one line but still). I think that's it.
> 
> I hope from the bottom of my heart that you guys will enjoy this! Grab a snack and a drink, get yourself in a comfortable position and enjoy!
> 
> x D.
> 
>  
> 
> [the tweet](https://twitter.com/softyjseo/status/1043023486912843777)  
> 

Roaming the streets at midnight was usually not the greatest idea. Everyone was aware of the dangers the night brought with it every single day, the darkness looming and terrifying. Usually, people stayed inside their houses or vehicles, only heading out if they really had to.

Seeing someone walk down the streets in the dark was rare and confusing. Taeyong was forced to do a double take as he watched the stranger, clad in a dark long jacket and jeans, walk past the alley he was standing in.

He stood half hunched, his body contorting in unnatural ways as he felt his eyes change by the simple smell of a human. He inhaled fiercely, trying to quench his thirst for blood as much as he could just by smell.

‘’ _Hello_?’’ Taeyong froze as a voice called out, a warm and worried undertone to the question. He stood quietly, holding his breath as he gripped the wall while trying not to moan as the smell of blood got closer.

‘’anybody there?’’ the voice called out again. Taeyong was in pure agony by now, his stomach keening at the thought of _food_ , while his heart cried out for him to run and not look back. He decided the second option was the better one, and retrieved his hand from the wall.

He turned around slowly, eyeing the dark alley way and the exit it formed from having to interact with a _human being_ , while Taeyong was dying of hunger. He stopped shuffling away from the entrance of the alleyway, however, when he felt a presence behind him.

‘’it’s you.’’ Now, this peeked Taeyong’s interest. Who was he to the stranger? Where had he seen this man, who Taeyong quite frankly hadn’t even seen the face of, before? Had they met before? Was he in Taeyong’s classes?

It all came to a stop as Taeyong felt a hand on his shoulder. A growl formed in his throat, but he willed it down. He knew he couldn’t turn around to look at the stranger, because his eyes were still turned, so Taeyong opted for the second best option: letting the stranger talk.

The stranger, however, didn’t talk. He just stood there, his hand on Taeyong’s shoulder. The soft drizzle around them had stopped at this point, leaving the city in a blanket of wet streets and puddles covering the sidewalks.

The soft pitter patter of rain drops falling from the rooftops was an accessory noise to the cars driving by. There weren’t many, as it was late in the evening, but the occasional vehicle passed, and to Taeyong it felt like with every single car that passed, the noise of the man behind him breathing became louder and louder.

‘’wh-who am I?’’ Taeyong decided to ask. It was a weird question, he was aware of that. He knew exactly who he was, Lee Taeyong, a college student in his last semester, who also happened to be a ghoul. He had no idea, however, who the stranger thought he was.

‘’You’re the Green Maniac.’’ This stopped the ever small motion of Taeyong’s eyes moving around the alley. He stared straight ahead, the name ringing in his ears and spreading a cold shiver down his spine.

It was the name news articles used to write about him. Taeyong had happened to pass a technology store a couple weeks ago, televisions displayed in the front window playing the news. They were talking about a ghoul, who happened to have green hair, who had sat and waited for another ghoul to finish his business with his victim, only to arise from the darkness after the other ghoul had left and feast on the leftovers.

From that point on, Taeyong had been dubbed as the Green Maniac. Luckily, his mask covered his face and so no one recognized him, even if he has green hair.

The stranger seemed to notice a change in Taeyong’s body language. He slowly removed his hand from Taeyong’s shoulder, leaving his senses on overdrive.

‘’I know who and what you are.’’ Taeyong’s blood ran cold. In the corner of his eye, he saw a silver shimmer of metal, something he recognized almost immediately. It was a suitcase. He knew exactly what was in that suitcase, and who this stranger was.

Every fibre of his being screamed at him to run, to let his animalistic side take over and fight the ghoul investigator that was stood not even two feet away from him, feasting on him and silencing the hunger Taeyong had been struggling with for days.

Coffee only did so much.

Taeyong could feel his kagune creeping up on him, his back already itching to let his bright red wings and black tentacles out, ready to completely destroy the ghoul investigator at hand.

But, he also knew that the investigator would be carrying a quinque, the weapon probably heavy in the suitcase. It was a true dilemma.

For a moment, the two of them just stood in silence. It had gotten a bit darker, the temperatures slowly dropping down to freezing, and even though Taeyong was on an adrenaline high, his entire body changing into the ghoul he didn’t want it to be, he shivered as a cold wind blew by.

‘’you have two choices. You come with me, peacefully,’’ Taeyong rolled his eyes at that. He knew that when ghouls were taken by the CCG, they wouldn’t survive for a long time. ‘’or, you could run and fight me.’’

There was a certain type of cocky confidence in the voice of the investigator. Taeyong hated it. He quickly balanced out his options, the latter one seemingly more tempting now that the investigator had shown his true colours.

Taeyong never killed. He only ate human flesh if another ghoul had already killed the human. When, on the rare occasion that it happened, Taeyong did kill; he’d kill because the world would be better off without bigots like the victim.

He was quite a powerful ghoul, he knew that. His kagune was, according to his best friend Yuta and multiple ghoul organizations that tried to get Taeyong into their ranks, one of the most powerful ones out there at this moment in time.

But, as Taeyong could hear the man behind him open up the suitcase, the metal clicks of the locks falling open, he made a decision.

He released his kagune, piercing the man straight through his abdomen. The investigator had no time to react, the blood immediately gushing out of his body.

Luckily for Taeyong, he decided to put on his mask before leaving his dormitory in the afternoon.

He turned around, one of his tentacles still stuck in the man’s body. He lifted him up with it, the screams of the man muffled by another tentacle wrapped around his head.

Deciding to end the man’s suffering, Taeyong turned his neck around. A satisfying crack ran through the alleyway, and the lifeless body of the man went limp in the air. Taeyong didn’t release him. He flapped his wings, managing to fly himself on top of a building close by.

He feasted, for the first time in months, on his own victim. He ate as much as he could, not really having the appliances at hand to carry some of the meat home, and dropped the man off the building in one go.

Taeyong didn’t look back. He flapped his wings and ran across the buildings, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, into the dark nights of Tokyo.

 

The next morning, Taeyong awoke with Yuta staring down at him. He groaned, turning over in his bed. Yuta chuckled, kicking him against his right leg. Taeyong didn’t even budge.

‘’you feasted last night, didn’t you?’’ Yuta asked, sitting down on his own bed across the room. Taeyong turned his head to look at his best friend, and fellow ghoul, and nodded. Yuta whistled, shaking his head.

‘’I thought you were a goodie two shoes?’’ Yuta always did this. Whenever Taeyong feasted, whether it was from someone else’s victim, or his own rare ones, Yuta would call him out for being a hypocrite.

‘’ _one minute you’re whining that you don’t want to kill anyone, the other you’re feasting on someone’s cadaver._ ’’ He had once said. Taeyong had thrown him off the balcony that day, secretly grateful for the sped up healing they both possessed.

‘’I can’t let myself die. Besides, he was a dickhead.’’ Taeyong explained himself, even though he owed Yuta little to nothing. Yuta wasn’t exactly a serial killer, only feeding when needed to survive, but he didn’t feel remorse for his actions.

‘’was he a dove?’’ Yuta asked, his eyebrows raised. Taeyong sighed, sitting up in bed. He nodded, and Yuta whistled once again.

‘’did you wear your mask?’’ Yuta pointed at where the piece of garment was carefully hidden in one of Taeyong’s desk drawers. Taeyong’s mask covered his entire face, except for his left eye. It was a simple design, the infamous joker smile on the bottom half and the top half pitch black.

Taeyong nodded, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up more. He got home around two in the morning, and being woken up for a morning lecture at eight wasn’t quite what he wanted, nor prepared for.

‘’well, thank fuck for that. Wouldn’t want you to get noticed.’’ Taeyong rolled his eyes. Yuta knew that Taeyong had been in the news a couple of times now, his ghoul rating going up every single broadcast, the amount of research being done on him as clear as day.

‘’back to normal, humane, business. Did you finish the essay?’’ and with that, the ghoul talk was gone. It seemed like two regular best friends getting ready for their lectures, bickering about an anime Yuta had watched the night before as they made their way to the lecture hall.

Their first lecture was biology, and even though the duo could only relate to about twenty-five percent of what was being discussed, they pretended and worked through the syllabus like regular students would.

Not a lot of ghouls chose to follow a regular way of life. More often than not, ghoul’s, who lived long enough and weren’t caught by the CCG, would join organizations barely into their teenage years. The very few who didn’t join organizations, did try to follow a mundane way of life.

They went to high school, worked hard in college and got a regular nine to five job. This is what Taeyong was trying to achieve. Yuta, on the other hand, was just here to fuck around.

‘’I cannot believe y-‘’ Taeyong cut himself off mid-sentence as they walked into the hall, stopping dead in his tracks. Yuta looked at him, quizzed expression clear on his face. Taeyong nodded his head over at the professor’s desk, and Yuta followed his gaze, only to softly gasp.

There, in his full glory, stood a _dove._ The investigator was dressed in a white lab coat, tight slacks hugging his legs. His face was set in a frown, but Taeyong couldn’t help himself as he licked his lips. The man was incredibly handsome.

‘’are you _ogling_ a fucking dove, Tae?’’ Taeyong shot his friend a glare, before they slowly made their way towards the back of the auditorium, dropping down in a seat next to each other.

‘’you _have_ to admit he’s fucking hot.’’ Taeyong spat under his breath, and Yuta groaned. ‘’I cannot believe this. You,’’ Yuta lowered his voice to barely a whisper before continuing, ‘’ _slaughtered_ one of them last night, and now you’re saying he’s hot?’’

Taeyong shrugged at that, but dropped the subject. ‘’why is he here, anyway?’’ he asked, a little louder this time. Hopefully a person around them had heard him.

His prayers were heard as a girl in front of the duo turned around, and smiled an all too friendly smile. ‘’they’re here to talk about ghoul biology. Isn’t that exciting?’’ Taeyong nodded, a fake smile on his face as he thanked the girl he recognized to be Sana from his Japanese lecture.

He slouched back in his seat, and poked Yuta in the ribs to get the younger’s attention. Yuta looked up from his phone, a smile on his face, and Taeyong rolled his eyes. ‘’there’s more of them. She just said _they_ , as in plural.’’ Yuta shrugged, turning back to rapidly text on his phone.

‘’does it matter? They’re here to tell us stuff we already know, and then bugger off.’’ Taeyong frowned. Something seemed off. Why today of all days? right after he killed an investigator? Did they find him? was he too recognizable? Were there even cameras in that alleyway?

Taeyong shook his head, he was probably overthinking it all. It was just a coincidence.

‘’Sicheng said he’s visiting in a couple of days.’’ Taeyong smiled at that, the thoughts of two other investigators entering the room pushed to the back of his head at the mention of his friends name. Sicheng was a good friend of theirs, and Yuta’s boyfriend. He was stationed in Beijing, China, at the moment as part of a small ghoul organization.

‘’is he being re-located?’’ Taeyong asked, now opening his biology book and shrugging his laptop out of its bag. Yuta shrugged, also opening his book.

‘’he didn’t say. He did say he’d have a big surprise for me when he gets here.’’ Taeyong rolled his eyes for what seemed like the one hundredth time that day, and sighed.

‘’I did not need to know about you guys’ sex life, thank you very much.’’ Yuta chuckled, throwing his head back in laughter. Taeyong giggled, too, watching his best friend smile. He knew he missed Sicheng, a lot. As much as he tried to play the tough guy and be proud of his boyfriend for what he’s achieving for ghouls in need, he missed him an awful lot.

They were both silenced by a firm thump, the attention of the student body in the room instantly focused on the two ghoul investigators in the front of the hall.

The tiniest one, and the one who had just dropped his bag onto the floor,  took a step forward, and bowed. ‘’Good morning, everyone. My name is Moon Taeil, a first class investigator from the first division.’’ The tiny man seemed scrawny, and Taeyong heard Yuta scoff beside him.

‘’they’re sending someone like that after us?’’ he whispered into Taeyong’s ear, and Taeyong shook his head at him.

Moon Taeil took a step back, the taller one of the trio and the one Taeyong thought was extremely attractive now stepping forward. Taeyong sat up in his seat, and he heard Yuta scoff again at his action. He flipped him the bird before focusing his attention back on the beautiful human being in front of him.

‘’I’m Seo Youngho, a first class investigator from the second division. I am the leader of this unit.’’ Eyebrows were raised at that introduction, and not just by Taeyong and Yuta. The latter straightened his back in his seat, his full attention now on the investigator.

It was the first time Taeyong heard anything about a unit consisting of both division one and two investigators. Usually, the second division investigators stayed inside the offices and barked out orders to those in the field. Taeyong knew they were powerful and strong, so whenever they did enter the field, the ghoul they were handling with at that time would be royally screwed.

It was common knowledge how the CCG worked. How they divided their units was broadcasted on the television on occasion, and even though most ghouls laughed at the obliviousness of the organization, humans seemed to get comfort from it. It was weird, at least to Taeyong.

Seo Youngho, Taeyong liked the sound of that name, took a step back.

After the introduction, the duo didn’t beat around the bush.

‘’We are here to lecture you about ghoul biology.’’ Youngho started, the power point presentation projected onto the huge white wall clicked to a new slide. A picture of a ghoul could be seen, and Taeyong flinched at the facial expression of the ghoul.

It was a middle aged woman, her face contorted in pain and her mouth open in what seemed to be a loud scream. Taeyong could hear Yuta scoff, and turned his head away from the gruesome picture to look at his best friend.

‘’fuckers.’’ Yuta whispered, and Taeyong couldn’t say he disagreed. That picture had obviously been taken while the female was in pain as she was most likely a captive ghoul, tortured for information on organizations she probably didn’t possess.

Taeyong felt bad for her.

‘’These are, as most of you will probably know, the eyes of a ghoul. They’re black, red veins evident.’’ Taeil continued, him being the one who clicked away the picture this time. The class let out a collective sigh as the next slide was only decorated with words, not a gruesome picture.

Taeyong felt his attention move across the lecture hall, scanning the faces of the students subconsciously. He knew all of this already, very familiar with his own bodily functions. It wasn’t new information to him, and he let his mind wander as the voices faded into the background.

After about twenty minutes of mindlessly staring at the power point presentation change slides, Taeyong was pulled back into the lecture.

‘’Now, ghouls eat human flesh, this is common knowledge. They can also drink coffee, and don’t eat regular human food. Their digestive systems are different than ours,’’

‘’no shit, sherlock.’’

‘’and they cannot process human food like we do. This, however, doesn’t mean that they are easily spottable. More often than not, ghouls teach themselves to tolerate human food just enough to not look suspicious. They will throw it up later on, and seem like completely regular human beings.’’ Taeil explained further, and Taeyong rolled his eyes.

The taste of human food didn’t appeal to Taeyong, and he hated it. What he would give to be able to be a normal, regular human being, was endless.

‘’but, they are not.’’ Youngho continued, clicking toward the next slide. The entire room collectively gasped at the picture displayed in great proportion onto the white wall, and Taeyong could feel Yuta move closer to him.

‘’motherfuckers.’’

A child ghoul, no less than six or seven years old, was displayed on the screen, a tiny kagune ripping the skin of his right shoulder. His eyes had turned, but tears were streaming down his cheeks and a pout was evident on his face.

From the blood on his clothes to the small droplets dripping from the boy’s kagune, Taeyong guessed the boy had just killed a human being.

He knew this kid was dead by now, and his heart broke a little more as the power point continued, confirming what Taeyong had already thought to be true.

The boy was laying on the ground, a quinque piercing through his stomach.

‘’Ghouls are monsters, who deserve nothing but death.’’ Youngho’s voice sounded strained, and Taeyong frowned. Taeyong agreed, to some degree. He agreed that ghouls who killed humans for fun, feasting on flesh of innocent victims every single night, deserved death.

But, ghouls like Taeyong himself, who almost never killed, did not deserve such a thing. They were just like humans eating animals, feeding themselves to survive.

‘’this is what one of our units found this morning on their morning patrol.’’ Taeil continued the slide, and Taeyong felt his eyes grow wide and his mouth go ajar. A picture of the man he had killed, feasted upon and thrown off a building was displayed on the screen.

A family picture was displayed next to it, and Taeyong felt his heart clench as he counted three little girls and a beautiful wife. He felt regret washing over him, the guilt cuffing his feet to the floor.

‘’is that the one?’’ Yuta asked, his voices lower than a whisper. He looked at his friend with worry in his eyes, and Taeyong nodded.

‘’y-yeah.’’ Taeyong tucked on his beanie, nervously rubbing the material in between his fingers as he choked on his own words. The man had three kids. _Three._ And Taeyong was the reason he had left them behind.

‘’this man, Yuto Adachi, a dear friend of ours, was found dead this morning. He was out on his nightly patrol, when a ghoul attacked. We suspect the _creature_ killed him first, feasted and then threw him off the building.’’ Taeil continued, his words heavy. They hit Taeyong in the chest, a multitude of blows booming through his body.

He closed his eyes, the smiles on the girls their faces in the picture haunting him. He took their father. For what reason? That he was hungry?

_Absolutely disgusting._

‘’Our end note to this lecture is to always watch out. Call out when you suspect something. Ghouls aren’t friendly creatures, and they will never be. They’re vicious murderers who kill innocent people  for their own well-being. Don’t ever think a ghoul will be your friend, your partner or anything remotely humane to you.’’ Youngho ended the lecture with a firm hand placed on the wooden desk, and Yuta scoffed.

‘’now that’s just fucking bullshit, isn’t it.’’

After the lecture, the duo walked out of the biology building and headed for the cafeteria. They weren’t going to eat anything, just order a coffee and sit, but at least they looked normal. Taeyong adjusted his beanie subconsciously as they walked through the entrance of the cafeteria.

‘’I might dye my hair.’’ Taeyong confessed after they had sat down. He thought it would be the best option. Every news channel in the country knew the Green Maniac by hair, and Taeyong guessed it would throw them off if he dyed his hair.

Yuta spat his coffee back into the cup, and Taeyong groaned in disgust. ‘’but it’s your brand!’’ he whined, wiping his face with a tissue.

‘’don’t say brand, it sounds weird. I don’t want to be recognized, y’know.’’ Yuta nodded at that.

‘’We’d have to visit Jeonghan again, though.’’ Taeyong groaned at the mention of their friend/acquaintance. Every ghoul in Tokyo and surrounding areas knew about the existence of this man. If you had a mask, which ninety-nine percent of ghouls did, it was probably designed and made by Jeonghan.

It’s not like Taeyong didn’t like Jeonghan, he enjoyed talking to him and listening to the other’s stories about his travels and new designs, but there was a certain aura around him.

Besides, Taeyong did not feel like coming up with an idea for an entire new mask.

‘’okay fine, I won’t dye my hair.’’ He waved the idea off the table as quick as it came, and Yuta raised his fist in victory, ‘’heck yeah, Green Maniac for life.’’ Taeyong shushed him, and Yuta giggled.

‘’oh shit.’’ The Japanese boy shut up, his eyes widening at something behind Taeyong. Taeyong frowned, turning his head slightly to eye whatever made Yuta stop in his tracks.

He gasped softly as he watched the two ghoul investigators from before enter the cafeteria, now accompanied by two other males.

‘’how many of them are on campus today?’’ Yuta hissed, clutching his coffee in hand. Truth be told, they were both intimidated and scared shitless. Having dove’s on campus was one thing, but the fact that one of them was a Division Two investigator scared Taeyong even more.

Youngho wasn’t just an _investigator._ Apparently, he was smart, quick and strong enough to climb up the ranks of CCG, and Taeyong shivered at the thought. Having a person that could easily take out three ghouls at once so close to him, was a terrifying thought.

Taeyong shrugged, turning back around to look at Yuta with a worried look on his face. ‘’I have no idea. What I do know, is that I want to get out of here.’’ He took a sip from his coffee, the bitter taste of the hot drink making its way down his throat.

It didn’t taste horrible, and that’s what mattered.

Yuta nodded in agreement, but stiffened in his seat. Taeyong frowned, ready to ask why, when he saw a shadow that wasn’t there before looming over their table.

He turned his head, immediately making eye contact with an investigator that wasn’t in the lecture hall. Taeyong tried not to slink back in his seat, clutching his coffee in his hand as he kept his eyes firmly on the investigator.

‘’Oh, I’m sorry, did I freak you out?’’ the investigator turned to look at Yuta, who, to his credit, still managed to shake his head and smile at the man clad in a white lab coat. Taeyong noticed that, unlike Taeil and Youngho, the two investigators who weren’t in the room during the lecture weren’t carrying a metal suitcase.

They didn’t have a quinque on them.

‘’C-Can I help you?’’ Taeyong stuttered out, gathering the attention of the investigator on himself. By now, half of the cafeteria was looking at their table, hushed whispers as to why the investigator stopped at Taeyong and Yuta’s table.

He hated the attention.

The investigator seemed surprised at his question, but smiled nonetheless. ‘’I just came over to compliment your hair.’’ Taeyong his eyes widened, fighting the instinct to tuck his beanie down even further to hide his hair.

In the corner of his eye he could see Yuta sitting up straighter than before, his eyes fixated on the investigator with the same look he had right before he would go hunting.

‘’Thank you, sir.’’ This time, Taeyong didn’t stutter. He was terrified, sure. And he knew that an investigator complimenting his hair the day after he killed one of them couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, but he was determined to not let it show.

‘’Call me Ten.’’ The investigator said before bowing, and walking back to the others. The unit was standing close to the exit, still, and Taeyong followed Ten until he leaned into Youngho to whisper something. 

It took maybe a minute for the cafeteria to fall back into casual chatter. Yuta kicked Taeyong’s leg to get his attention, and the older looked at him with wide eyes.

‘’that couldn’t have been a coincidence, Yuta.’’ Taeyong spat, closing his eyes in pure horror. If they did really find out it was him, maybe by camera’s or witnesses Taeyong hadn’t thought about in his mindset clogged by hunger and guilt, he would be screwed.

‘’I agree with you, but,’’ Taeyong was about to protest and interrupt, but Yuta raised his finger to stop him from doing so, ‘’I also think that they’re lost. They’ve been looking for the Green Maniac for _weeks_ on end. Every trail is a trail, even if that means talking to strangers who happen to have green hair.’’

Taeyong nodded, still not completely relaxed. It could be like Yuta said. He could be right. He knew that the CCG had been looking for him for quite a while, ever since he lashed out about three months back. The memory alone caused tears to form in his eyes, but he willed them away. The CCG was desperate at this point, the trust from citizens lowering by the day as more and more of them were killed.

‘’let’s just get out of here, yeah?’’

 

Once again, Taeyong found himself roaming the dark streets, the rain this time a little more than just a drizzle. He was soaked to the bone, a shiver running down his spine every so often. He didn’t want to be in this position, his stomach once again reeling with hunger, begging to be fed.

Taeyong had refused to eat anything for the past month, his body weakening significantly due to the lack of blood. He hadn’t fed on someone else’s victim, even going as far as rejecting Yuta’s leftovers, nor had he killed someone again, not after killing the investigator.

His mask sat lightly on his face,  protecting him from the rain pounding down from the sky. His woollen beanie was just as soaked as his hoodie and jeans were, but he couldn’t bring it in himself to remove it.

Taeyong had been wearing it ever since the investigators showed up during class, hiding his hair every single time he left the house. When people asked, he’d tell them the dyeing went horribly wrong, and he didn’t have the money to redo it.

Granted, he was just terrified of the dove’s roaming the streets.

It seemed as if they had doubled the security around the ward, double the amount of investigators now roaming the streets, patrolling.

Taeyong stopped walking on the rooftop of a karaoke bar, resting one foot on the edge of the rooftop. He whipped his head in both directions, eyeing the distance between the karaoke bar and the building in front of him, which seemed to be a convenience store, ready to jump across.

He halted, however, when he heard something, someone, move behind him. He slouched down a little, ready to release his kagune and run across the rooftops. He stayed silent, waiting for a sign that someone was actually there, and moved to stand back up straight when he didn’t hear anything.

Taeyong shrugged, it could have easily been an animal. He made to turn around fully, getting ready to jump once more, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw someone stand up in the corner of his eye.

He carefully removed his left foot from the ledge and stared at the person who had just stood up, eyeing him before widening his eyes.

It was a dove.

Taeyong didn’t think twice. He released his kagune, his wings flapping in the rain and his tentacles crinkling around him. He jumped over to the convenience store rooftop, turning his head around to check whether or not the dove was following him.

He was, and Taeyong cursed. They received way too much training nowadays.

He ran, letting his wings carry him across the different rooftops. He couldn’t hear whether or not the dove was still behind him, his kagune causing too much ruckus to be able to do so. He just continued to run until his mind got dizzy, his wings downsizing significantly due to the lack of nutrition.

If Taeyong had eaten, he would’ve been able to continue running for hours. But, because he had been starving for quite some time, he was forced to stop running after just ten minutes.

He hopped onto a rooftop with the last bit of power in his body, and let himself slouch against the metal railing. Taeyong had ran closer to the campus. He cursed under his breath and turned around, ready to jump down the rooftop and bolt as fast as he could manage, but he stopped as he witnessed the dove jumping onto the same rooftop he was stood upon.

‘’you’re awfully fast, _greeny._ ’’ Taeyong didn’t move. He stood there, watching as the dove straightened his coat. He couldn’t quite see the man’s face, nor could he place the voice he did vaguely recognize. What he did see and recognize, was the infamous metal suitcase.

Taeyong was either about to die, or have a meal he would later disgust himself for.

He pulled his beanie down even more, the item now completely covering his head. The investigator chuckled, now fully turning to look at Taeyong.

The ghoul gasped, a remark lost in his throat. The set jawline, the pair of plump lips, the narrow eyes and brown hair; it was Youngho. It was a shame, really. If Taeyong had been human and he would have met Youngho in a college bar or a club, he would have been able to get Youngho in bed with him.

Taeyong wasn’t cocky. He _was_ , however, very aware of his looks.

Taeyong didn’t say anything as Youngho took a step forward. For some reason, he didn’t feel threatened by the investigator. He could almost hear Yuta yell at him for how utterly _ridiculous_ that statement was, but Taeyong couldn’t care.

Youngho was about ten feet away when Taeyong spoke up.

‘’takes years of training. I noticed, though, that you probably did the same.’’ His words were firm, his voice not wavering once even though the threat of death was looming so close, and Taeyong figuratively patted himself on the back.

Youngho chuckled, a light sound ringing through the night, and Taeyong felt his heart flutter. The rain had once again lessened, a soft drizzle now coming down from the sky.

‘’I did go through years of training, indeed.’’ The ‘conversation’ fell silent, the lull filled by rowdy teenagers down on the street. Taeyong turned his head to look over the railing, and for the first time since he started running, he felt his stomach clench in pain. The different smells of blood flooded his nose, his eyes turning easily.

‘’you have a beautiful kagune.’’ Youngho said. Taeyong whipped his head around to look at the investigator, blushing and raising an eyebrow under his mask. His kagune had reduced itself to two tentacles crawling out of his back, the significant drop in energy taking a toll on his body.

‘’thanks.’’ Taeyong muttered. He was aware this conversation was weird. He was aware that if Yuta or Sicheng had been with him, they’d be attacking or running by now, but for some reason Taeyong felt safe. He felt calm.

‘’are you hungry?’’ Taeyong perked up at the question. He furrowed his eyebrows, eyeing Youngho with confusion in his eyes. The other man couldn’t see it, however, Taeyong’s mask covering too much of his face.

‘’I’ve studied you enough to know that you don’t feast much. Here, let me help.’’ Youngho bent down, making a move to grab his briefcase. Taeyong was on the railing in seconds, ready to jump off and run, and Youngho snickered.

Taeyong didn’t find it funny.

‘’I’m not carrying my quinque on me. Don’t worry.’’ Taeyong chuckled bitterly at that.

‘’that’s just dumb.’’ He spat, his confidence returning ever so slightly. The investigator smiled, ‘’maybe you’re right.’’ He opened his briefcase, and Taeyong was hit with the most delicious scent he had ever smelt.

It was AB negative blood.

‘’what’s that?’’ Taeyong’s question came out more rushed than he wanted it to, but he couldn’t help himself. He could feel his mouth water at the promise of a bite from someone with the rarest blood type known to man. Legends were told about AB negative among all the ghouls. Some said that a ghoul who ate flesh which contained AB negative would become immortal. Some more believable legends contained stories about stronger kagune, easier turning and longer periods in between hunger.

‘’It’s my old arm.’’ And then it clicked. The sense of comfort, the unfamiliar smell, the way Youngho seemed to have this aura around him. Youngho was one of the people in the world with AB negative blood.

Taeyong couldn’t help the growl that escaped his mouth, and Youngho chuckled. ‘’what happened to your arm?’’ Taeyong asked, climbing down from the railing to reclaim his spot on the rooftop.

Youngho shrugged, a smirk evidence on his face. ‘’had a run in with an SSS rated ghoul two years back. He cut off my arm, clean. Got it replaced with a gadget.’’ Taeyong marvelled at Youngho’s technical arm as the male showed it off. He was surprised he didn’t notice it when Youngho was giving his lecture on ghoul biology, but then again, he was seated far at the back.

‘’and you’re giving me your old one, why?’’ Taeyong had to ask. This could be some sick trick. The arm could be poisoned, ready to kill Taeyong once he sets his teeth in it. It could come with a catch for all Taeyong knew.

He may hated being a ghoul, the fact that he had to eat innocent humans disgusting him to his very core, but he would never rat out his own friends.

‘’we’ve had it frozen in the lab for two years now. I followed you around a bit, researching my way into your routine, and decided that you were worthy of eating it.’’ Taeyong frowned, the questions in his head still not answered.

‘’you’re meant to kill me, not save me from dying of hunger.’’ Taeyong retorted, and Youngho sighed at that.

‘’Look. Just, take the arm. Or not, and starve.’’ Youngho picked up the suitcase, leaving the arm carefully wrapped in a plastic bag on the rooftop. He closed the suitcase, the locks falling into place, and turned around.

Taeyong froze, his eyes fixated on the arm that was _his_ to eat. His eyes flew up, searching for Youngho. He found him walking across the rooftop next to the one Taeyong was standing on, and he opened his mouth.

‘’thanks!’’ he yelled, and was waved off by Youngho’s robotic hand. It boggled Taeyong’s mind that he hadn’t noticed a detail like that when Youngho had stood in front of his class about a month ago. What boggled his mind even more, however, was the fact that an investigator, a damn good one at that, had just given him his _fucking_ arm.

Taeyong jumped down from his spot next to the railing, rushing toward the arm as his hunger got the best of him. He felt his eyes turn at the scent the blood was giving out, and ripped off the plastic bag easily.

He sunk his teeth into the flesh, and moaned in bliss. It tasted so good. He could feel the blood rushing to his organs, reenergizing him almost completely just from a couple bites.

 

‘’I cannot believe you did that? He did that? What the actual fuck?’’ Sicheng was just as confused as Yuta seemed to be. The couple was laid on top of Yuta’s bed, cuddled together, as Taeyong recalled the events of his night.

‘’well, what I cannot fucking believe is that Taeyong here ate AB fucking negative and didn’t bring us a piece!’’ Yuta snarled, a joking tone in his voice. Taeyong chuckled dryly, shaking his head.

‘’I would have if I wasn’t almost dead.’’ Sicheng rolled his eyes at that. He piped up, effectively throwing Yuta’s arms off of him, making Yuta whine.

‘’and who’s fault is that?’’ he accused. Taeyong threw a book at the Chinese man’s head, missing by an inch.

‘’Maybe next time you can just kill him so we can all feast? Renjun would fucking faint if I told him I’d feasted on an AB negative.’’ Renjun was one of the ghouls Sicheng had taken care off when he was stationed in China. The big surprise, that Taeyong still believed wasn’t the actual big surprise and according to Yuta was one of the surpri _ses_ Sicheng had brought, was that he was being relocated back to Tokyo.

He was going to join the Japanese branch of the organization he worked for, and had invited Yuta and Taeyong to come along a couple times. So far, Taeyong had refused to go. Yuta, however, had already joined the organization fairly quickly.

‘’I’m not killing him.’’ Taeyong turned around in his desk chair, dropping his head on top of his desk with a groan. He could hear Yuta mutter something, but chose to ignore it in favour of licking his lips.

The faint taste of the AB negative blood he had consumed an hour ago was still on his lips. It was vague, subtle, but still there. Taeyong felt reenergized. He felt extremely satisfied, his stomach filled to the brim by just an arm. With regular blood, he wouldn’t be sated just by an arm.

‘’I honestly think there is some weird catch attached to eating that arm.’’ Sicheng theorized out loud. Taeyong listened to the Chinese male, and agreed by nodding his head. ‘’I don’t know Sicheng, maybe people are just _that_ nice.’’

Yuta scoffed from somewhere behind Taeyong, and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘’if a fellow nice ghoul had seen you suffer, maybe. But it was Seo Youngho, a first class ghoul investigator, and he can’t just be playing nice, Tae.’’

Taeyong agreed with the both of them, their points equally valid. He knew accepting the offer Youngho had presented him with wasn’t just playing nice, but he was glad he was alive for now. And that’s what mattered at the moment.

Besides, AB negative was delicious, even if Taeyong hated admitting to it.

 

‘’So you’re telling me Sicheng’s organization is disguised as a café?’’ Taeyong asked as Yuta and him walk down the street, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets and a scarf wrapped around his throat. The weather had gone from rainy and somewhat cool to full on winter weather, the cold breeze requiring a thick coat and gloves to stay remotely warm.

‘’Yeah, It’s pretty close to campus and incredibly real. They serve normal customers, and behind closed doors they take care of wounded or homeless ghouls.’’ Taeyong smiled, grateful for such a thing to exist.

Even though Sicheng and Yuta talked a lot of shit about hunting and feasting and tried to act all cool and tough on the outside, but they were sweethearts on the inside. Sicheng was pulled off the streets by the same organization he was a part of now when he was younger, and now resulted into doing the same thing for other ghouls in similar situations.

Yuta had joined the organization about two weeks ago, and the duo was very adamant on having Taeyong join, too.

‘’what’s the café called?’’ Taeyong asked as they rounded a street corner. Yuta pointed at a sign in the distance, making Taeyong squint to read what it said.

‘’Neo Coffee? They used the name of the organization?’’ they continued on walking and a wave of heat hit them when they entered the café. Taeyong looked around to see multiple regular human beings, or so he thought, seated at tables sipping on cups of coffee and eating various foods. There were two waiters present behind the bar area, and two were walking around serving people their orders.

The two behind the bar looked like teenagers, and immediately Taeyong felt bad for them. Yuta had told him beforehand that only ghouls work in the place, so he knew that these kids weren’t regular human beings. They were probably found wandering the streets or saved either from being found and killed, or starvation.

Sicheng was among the ones walking around the shop and made his way over to Yuta and Taeyong fairly quickly. He gave Yuta a peck on the cheek before smiling at Taeyong. ‘’you look frozen.’’ Taeyong rolled his eyes at his best friend and they were seated at the bar, the two teenagers looking between Sicheng and them with confusion clear on their faces. Yuta greeted the two teenagers with a high five, the both of them returning it with smiles on their faces, before they turned to Taeyong.

‘’Guys, this is Taeyong. Taeyong, these little fuckers are Jisung and Chenle. They’re seniors in high school.’’ Taeyong raised his eyebrows, his eyes slightly wider than normal as Sicheng introduced them, but he waved in acknowledgement nonetheless.

The fact that they went to school was a relief.

‘’So you’re what, like eighteen?’’ the one Sicheng introduced as Jisung shook his head, ‘’I’m seventeen. I turn eighteen in February.’’ His voice was soft, just barely above a whisper, and Taeyong smiled as Chenle wrapped an arm around Jisung’s shoulder, almost protectively.

‘’I’m the one who’s eighteen.’’ Yuta snorted at that, ‘’just barely.’’ He said, making Chenle whine.

The conversation fell into small talk, questions to get to know each other were asked occasionally, and by the time Yuta and Taeyong got their coffee, Taeyong felt like he had known the two teenagers for his entire life.

The other boy serving customers walked up to the counter a few moments later, and introduced himself as Yukhei. ‘’he’s the clumsy one I told you guys about yesterday.’’

‘’hey!’’ Yukhei exclaimed, whacking Sicheng with his dish towel.

‘’what? You dropped three plates yesterday!’’ Jisung retorted, and Taeyong giggled.

‘’so who else works here?’’ Taeyong asked the question with the hidden meaning of who else was in the organization, and Chenle seemed to get the hint. ‘’well there’s us, obviously. Then there’s Mark, Donghyuck, Jeno and Jaemin.’’ He listed off the names, counting them on his fingers instinctively.

It was endearing, really.

‘’Jungwoo is the leader of this precinct. He’s probably in the back somewhere.’’ Taeyong recognized the name from Sicheng’s stories, and knew the guy wasn’t older than him. He also knew that Jungwoo was supposedly one of the nicest, kindest beings to walk this earth -if he had to believe Sicheng’s words-.

‘’Ah! I’ll go and fetch him for you.’’ Before Taeyong could utter a protest, Yukhei was out the door behind the bar. Jisung turned to look at him and he seemed to sense Taeyong’s hesitance, because he snickered and shook his head.

‘’Don’t worry, he’s not interrupting Jungwoo. He’s got sort of a free pass to do that.’’ Taeyong raised his eyebrows, a playful smile now on his face.

‘’essentially what he’s saying is, is that he’s his boyfriend.’’ Sicheng stated, and Taeyong chuckled.

‘’they’re polar opposites, those two.’’ Chenle started wiping the counter as Sicheng got back onto the floor, serving some customers with cups of coffee and delicious looking food Taeyong badly wanted to enjoy, but couldn’t.

‘’where are the other guys, then?’’

‘’Mark and Jeno work in the kitchen, mostly, while Jaemin, Donghyuck, Jisung and I work the counter with the occasional waiter shift. Jaemin and Donghyuck will be coming in in about an hour or so.’’ Chenle explained, gesturing to the back door as he talked about Mark and Jeno.

‘’This is a very well-oiled machine.’’ Taeyong commented, taking his last sip of his coffee before reaching over the counter and putting it in the sink. Jisung nodded at him in gratitude before grabbing the mug and starting to wash it.

‘’Well yeah, they kind of have to be.’’ Yuta retorted, also handing over his empty mug.

‘’so, are you thinking of joining us?’’ Three pairs of eyes were on Taeyong after Jisung asked the fateful question, and Taeyong groaned internally. He wanted to join NEO badly, wanted to help other ghouls in need and accept the fact that he would be a human eating devil for the rest of his life, but there was this tiny part of him that didn’t want to admit to it just yet.

‘’I’ll think about it.’’ He said instead, and the three seemed satisfied with that. ‘’Oi lazy ass! Your shift starts in less then ten minutes, get your apron on!’’ A young looking man walked into the café through the backdoor, his face kind and smiling as he pointed at Yuta, Yukhei trailing behind him.

Taeyong guessed this was Jungwoo.

He was proven correct when Yukhei wrapped his arm around the other male’s waist, placing his chin on his shoulder. ‘’I’m finishing up my conversation with my _friends_ here, woo, and then I’ll get off my ass.’’

‘’he’s got a nice ass!’’ Sicheng butted in the conversation, and no one could hold a giggle in. Taeyong smiled as he watched the ghouls interact and converse with each other like regular human beings, fool and bicker around as the time passed by.

It was sad, really, how no matter what they tried as ghouls, how kind and loving they could be, how much they tried to resist feeding off of humans, their reputation as creatures was always going to be a problem. No one liked ghouls, it was a fact clear as day, and Taeyong hated it.

 

Taeyong hated it when his best friends were right. He hated it from the bottom of his heart, every single damn time. Because his friends were always right when it came to big issues, never when it came to small stuff like the birthday of a famous celebrity -Taeyong always won those arguments-. No, they were always right when it came to important, most of the time life changing, things.

This time, he found himself walking through the hallways of the Social Lectures building with a rush in his step, trying to shake off two stalkers. Taeyong cursed under his breath as he looked back for a split second, his eyes widening as the two men were still following him.

He quickened his pace ever so slightly and turned the corner.

It all started that morning when Taeyong walked into his Economics lecture of the day, caffeine in his blood keeping him awake. He had spent most of his night beating Yuta at Mario Kart and effectively procrastinating his biology essay, and was beyond exhausted when he plopped into his seat.

At first, Taeyong didn’t notice the two men seated behind him. He hadn’t thought much of it until the end of the lecture, when he rushed out of the room to meet Yuta for lunch and realised they were following him.

Taeyong had recognized them to be Moon Taeil and Seo Youngho fairly quickly, the duo disguised as regular college students with normal clothes instead of lab coats and backpacks -no doubt in Taeyong’s mind that they were carrying their quinque in there- on their backs.

He knew from the moment he made eye contact with Youngho that they were looking for him, and that it had everything to do with the fact that he had eaten Youngho’s arm. Taeyong cursed Sicheng under his breath once more before bolting outside, taking his phone out of his pocket and ringing Yuta.

‘’ _where the fuck are you, dude?_ ’’ Yuta answered the phone with mock annoyance, and Taeyong almost made a snarky comment before remembering what situation he was in.

‘’Seo Youngho and Moon Taeil are here disguised as regular college students and they are following me. I’m trying to shake them off.’’ While talking to Yuta, Taeyong quickly ascended the pavemented stairs in front of the building, rushing to pull his beanie further down to disguise his green hair even more.

‘’ _fuck. Get to the dorms as quick as you can, I’ll rush there too._ ’’ Taeyong made a noise of confirmation before hanging up, bee-lining for the dormitories as fast as he could manage through the crowd of students. Usually, he absolutely hated having to walk along the huge pack of students seemingly always in front of the buildings, but this time he was grateful, hoping that it would help him lose the two investigators.

As the crowd around him got thinner and thinner, Taeyong slowed his step to become less suspicious. He put in his headphones, putting on the first song he could find, and acted as normal as he could while walking down the pathway to the dorms.

‘’I believe the cafeteria is the other way around.’’ Taeyong stopped dead in his tracks, startled by the voice coming from behind him. He pulled out his headphones, trying to act as convincingly confused as he could.

‘’Excuse me?’’ He asked, his voice not wavering once even though the anxiety in his body almost made Taeyong fall face first onto the gravel. Youngho stood in front of him now, Taeyong fully turned around, and smirked at him.

‘’don’t try to act all innocent, Green Maniac. Or should we say, Lee Taeyong?’’ Taeyong was sure the shock was evident on his face, the pure anxiety rushing through his body making him act on pure instinct.

He bolted.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him without the strength of his kagune, not wanting to reveal himself to his fellow students and college professors. He ran across campus as fast as he could while dodging students, receiving strange looks in return. But, as Taeyong turned his head slightly to look back, he saw Youngho and Taeil running after him. They were getting closer and closer, Taeyong not used to running this much without his kagune, while the investigators were trained for this.

Giving up wasn’t an option. If he stopped running, they’d catch him and probably kill him on the spot, a high probability because Taeyong _did_ kill an investigator and ate one’s arm. It was clear as day that the second he’d get caught, he was dead meat.

The smiles from the teens at NEO came to mind, the soft laughs and twinkling eyes. Taeyong knew they looked up to him, having gotten to know the most of them fairly well over the past three weeks. They had slowly formed a family and even though Taeyong was wary of joining NEO for real, he could often be found at the café after school hours.

Taeyong didn’t want to stop running, even if it was just for the sake of them.

Taeyong had run far, almost completely off campus. He was running along the sides of the track field, the fence on one side and even more grass on the other. No other students were around and as Taeyong looked back, neither were the investigators.

He let himself lean on the fence, giving himself a minute to catch a breath. Taeyong closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, just about ready to give in and use his kagune, when he heard a yelp.

‘’he’s right here!’’ Before Taeyong could bolt up and away, he felt something wrap around his waist, effectively trapping any sort of movement he had planned on doing. He had to get this off as fast as possible. Taeyong started scratching at the weird looking rope, started pulling and trying to tear the fabric but nothing worked.

Taeyong was close to tears as he stopped struggling. This was it. He would never see his friends again. Yuta would kill any investigator he could find before getting caught himself, and the kids at NEO would become even more scared of the dove’s than that they already were. Taeyong didn’t want to die, but he knew struggling was in vain.

‘’Jesus Christ, you sure can run.’’ Taeil spoke up first, hunching over and gasping for air a few feet away from Taeyong. Taeyong growled in response, wanting to at least _seem_ intimidating to the investigator. Taeil chuckled, however, as he straightened back up.

‘’Hey Youngho, he’s trying to act tough!’’ Taeyong turned his head to the side to see Youngho walking up to them with the other end of the weird rope in hand, a grin on his face that was way too sinister for Taeyong’s comfort.

‘’Taeyong? Tough? You’ve got to be kidding me.’’ Youngho pulled at the rope, effectively pulling Taeyong away from the fence. With the only sense of footing gone, the anxiety rushing through his veins making his legs numb, Taeyong fell to the floor.

He let himself hit the grass, feeling the pain in his knees but not quite registering it. It wasn’t worth whining over anyway. He was going to die, right here.

‘’what do you want?’’ he managed to grit out, his jaws tightly clamped together as the rope tightened on his waist. It was starting to cut off any sort of circulation, and it hurt.

‘’Pretty sure you know what we want, Taeyong.’’ Taeyong snarled, throwing caution into the wind. The people in front of him knew who he was, so there was no reason to hide. And while they were still on school grounds, they were far away from where the students were at the moment. Keeping that in mind, Taeyong felt his eyes turn.

He arched his back as his kagune broke free, tearing his skin open. His tentacles freed him of the rope, and he gasped for air as circulation started up again. His wings flapped once, twice, and Taeyong looked up at the two investigators.

To his great horror, they were stood there and _smiling._ Taeil and Youngho looked incredibly stupid in their costumes, but their faces were adorned with smiles and wicked eyes.

‘’I told you, didn’t I?’’ Youngho said, patting Taeil on the shoulder. The other nodded, and Taeyong frowned. What’s going on? Why hadn’t they attacked yet.

Taeyong moved his tentacles around, aiming the tips at the two investigators. The two, to Taeyong’s great chagrin, ignored his advances and kept on talking.

‘’his kagune sure is beautiful. He looks strong too, has great stamina.’’ Taeil commented. Taeyong growled again, this time more aggravated than scared. Why they were talking about him as if he was some sort of price?

Of course investigators would be proud of their catches and finds. Taeyong even heard some stories about investigators letting the kagune of the ghouls they killed be turned into their new quinque. It was insane to Taeyong, and he would never get why.

‘’he’d be a great asset to the team.’’ This caught his attention. He turned his head to look at the two, who were now looking at him once again.

‘’asset?’’ Taeyong asked, his voice raised the slightest bit. He was incredibly confused.

‘’we’re not here to kill you, Taeyong.’’ Now that was new. He had expected everything from being brutally tortured for information he didn’t possess to being killed right there and then, but he had not seen this coming.

‘’you’re what?’’

‘’we’re here to ask you for help.’’ Taeyong was completely star struck, the words hanging loosely in the air before being swept away by the wind, leaving the trio in a very awkward silence.

‘’help you? With what exactly?’’ Taeyong spoke, his voice slightly wavering as he stood up straight. He willed his kagune down to a tinier version, not wanting it to be gone completely but less noticeable from afar. Taeil looked at Youngho as if to ask for permission, and after Yungho nodded affirmatively, he turned back to Taeyong.

‘’we’re willing to explain, under one condition.’’ Taeyong raised his eyebrows. According to him, they didn’t really have much room to ask for condition’s, his kagune powerful enough to at least take Taeil out if Taeyong wanted to. Which he didn’t, but the investigator didn’t know that.

Before Taeyong could ask about the condition, though, his phone rang. In favour of continuing the weird encounter he was having, he ignored it. The ringtone faded away, and Youngho chuckled. ‘’was that your friend?’’ Taeyong’s eyes narrowed at that. It could have been Yuta, worried sick about him as he waited for Taeyong to arrive at the dorms, but how Youngho knew of his existence was a mystery to him.

‘’what’s the condition?’’ Taeyong growled, in favour of taking the attention off of Yuta. He didn’t like two doves talking about his best friend like that.

‘’Woah, no need to get all hostile on us.’’ Youngho started, and Taeyong had the urge to chuckle. They killed multiple of his species in many painful ways, all because they needed to eat, and they were the ones calling him hostile?

‘’Your friend needs to be here, too.’’ Taeyong’s eyes widened at that, again. What did they have to do with Yuta? What did they want from him?

‘’call him up and tell him to come, unarmed.’’ He bristled at Youngho’s words. Shaking his head, he stood up straight.

‘’How do I know I can trust you?’’ Taeyong eyed the backpacks they still had on their backs, suspicious of their contents. Taeil seemed to notice, because he shrugged his off and unzipped it, toppling it over to display its contents. A lunchbox, notebook and some pens fell out. Catching on, Youngho did the same thing. His backpack contained a laptop, which he carefully placed on the ground before toppling his bag over, revealing a notebook and a lunchbox as well.

To Taeyong, it seemed suspicious still. He had never in his life met a ghoul investigator that went out on the streets, while on duty, without a quinque, or at least a weapon to protect themselves. It was weird.

‘’we don’t have any weapons on us. The rest of our unit knows that we’re here, and why, but we’re the only ones present. We’ve researched your friend, Nakamoto Yuta, enough to know that he’s strong. We would not be able to handle the both of you without weapons.’’ Taeyong didn’t allow himself to relax, even though he knew Taeil was right. There was no way they would be able to overpower Yuta and him without the necessary equipment.

‘’Will you text him now?’’ Youngho’s voice sent a shiver down Taeyong’s spine, a weird feeling erupting in the pit of his stomach. He weighed out his decision. He could text Yuta and he’d come over here. That would give them two options. Listen to what the investigators had to say, or be attacked and be forced to kill the doves.

The thought of killing Youngho was unsettling to Taeyong for a reason he couldn’t quite pinpoint, and so he was forced to go against every single principle he ever had and text Yuta.

He pocketed his phone after sending Yuta a message with their location and for him to come unarmed, and looked back at the investigators stood in front of him. ‘’He’s on his way. Care to explain a little more?’’ He asked, his confidence reaching a new level now that his best friend was involved.

Youngho shook his head, a smirk on his face. Taeyong felt his stomach do a flip, and a frown etched itself onto his face. ‘’we’re here to ask you for a favour, Taeyong.’’ Taeil answered for Youngho, and Taeyong cocked his head to look at Youngho.

‘’So there was a secret meaning behind it, huh?’’ Taeyong growled. Youngho seemed to have gotten back to earth, his hands now in the pockets of the jeans he was wearing. He nodded and shrugged, agonizing Taeyong just a little bit.

‘’There was no secret meaning behind it at all. It just happens to come in handy, that’s all.’’ Taeyong just stayed silent after that, letting the words sink in. He was alive due to Youngho, yeah, but he also knew that this was bad. Sicheng had been right from the beginning.

The silence between the three was interrupted as Yuta rushed up to them, immediately flinging himself in front of Taeyong. His kagune was out, a tail like form growing from the small of his back, and he aimed it at Youngho and Taeil. ‘’What do you fuckers want?’’ He yelled.

Taeil eyed Taeyong, and the ghoul quickly caught on. He latched his hand onto Yuta’s shoulder, willing Yuta to calm down ever so slightly. ‘’It’s okay, Yuta.’’ He mumbled, tightening his grip around Yuta’s shoulder as he saw his kagune grow in size.

‘’You’re talking to two doves, one of which is amazingly strong and saved your life for no reason. It’s not okay.’’ Yuta growled back, and Taeyong’s eyes widened as he saw the vigour in his best friend’s black and red eyes. He sighed, though, knowing that this wouldn’t end well if Yuta kept going.

‘’They have a favour to ask us.’’ Taeyong stated. Yuta raised his eyebrows at that and turned his face to look at the two investigators, whom to their credit were standing extremely calm as a kagune was pointed at them.

‘’what will this benefit us?’’ Yuta asked, and Taeyong eyed Youngho’s reaction to the question carefully. The investigator seemed nothing less of relaxed, and it made Taeyong’s hair stand up all over his body. That was not regular human behaviour around two ghouls.

‘’your reputation as ghouls cleared.’’ The two ghouls turned their interest to Taeil, who had taken a step forward toward Yuta’s kagune. Yuta edged it forward a bit, as if to scare the older, but he didn’t even flinch.

‘’and how would you do that?’’ Taeyong then asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

Youngho chuckled, digging the nose of his converse into the dirt before looking back at them. Taeyong found his eyes and Youngho kept his gaze on him as he opened his mouth.

‘’we’re assembling a CCG unit with humans and ghouls alike.’’ Yuta sniffled, a mocking tone in his voice as he spoke up. ‘’You’re kidding, right?’’

Youngho shook his head, and continued. ‘’On the contrary. We’re already two ghouls strong, you met one of them when we were in the cafeteria. But, they were bread in captivity. We need ghouls who have lived on the streets, who know things. You, Taeyong, and Yuta fit that picture perfectly. Your criminal record isn’t big enough for us to doubt your actions, and we know you recently have been working with the NEO ghoul organization to help ghouls in need. You have good hearts, you were just born in the wrong bodies and should not be punished for such.’’

Taeyong and Yuta stood there, completely flabbergasted. This was not what Taeyong was expecting. He had expected everything from being murdered on the spot to submitting to different sorts of tests and the like. What he did not see coming was being _asked_ to join the CCG.

An organisation based around hunting down and exterminating his species.

‘’B-‘’

Yuta was interrupted by Taeil, who could now take multiple steps towards them as Yuta had lowered his kagune. ‘’We are aware that Taeyong killed Yuto. We are willing to overlook that, taking everything that Yuto has done wrong into consideration. We don’t want an answer now, but we expect a reply by tomorrow five pm. If after that you haven’t answered, we will continue our unit without you two and will not bother you again.’’ Taeyong frowned, shaking his head.

What had Yuto done wrong that could have possibly been him getting killed worth overlooking? Was Taeyong right and was the male investigator an asshole? What did he do? Why were they requesting their help?

He didn’t believe Taeil one bit. He didn’t believe that Taeyong would be completely forgiven for his actions, and he didn’t believe that if they didn’t agree to joining the unit, they would be completely left alone.

‘’We’ll think about it.’’ To Taeyong’s surprise, Yuta sounded determined and sure of his actions, as if he was really going to give the decision the light of day, and Taeyong found himself nodding along.

‘’here, our number. You’ll get connected to the office belonging to our unit.’’ Youngho handed Taeyong a piece of paper, and as Taeyong touched Youngho’s fingers, he felt a spark rush through his body. He pulled back quickly, Youngho eyeing him with confusion before retreating.

-

‘’I think you should do it.’’ For the second time that day, Taeyong was utterly star struck and confused. He hadn’t expected to get _any_ sort of support, really, let alone Sicheng’s support. He was cleaning the counter next to the cash register while Yuta paced around the café. It was a sight to see, and usually Taeyong would laugh at his best friend, but this situation called for more serious measures.

Jungwoo and Yukhei were seated at the bar right next to Taeyong. He eyed them cautiously, trying to gain some sort of reaction from them. When Taeyong didn’t get anything, he turned to look at Sicheng with confusion in his eyes.

‘’You want us to join their unit?’’ He then asked, a little more irritation mixed with confusion in his words than he deemed necessary. Sicheng nodded, dropping the cloth in the sink before turning to look at the trio seated at the bar.

‘’Yuta, for the love of god, stop pacing!’’ was the first thing he said, his boyfriend immediately stopping dead in his tracks before slowly walking over to where everyone else was seated or standing. Sicheng turned to look at Taeyong and nodded again, ‘’I do think you should, yeah. You’ve been given an opportunity to clear the reputation of ghouls who want nothing else but to live like regular human beings. I think it would be selfish to not accept such an offer.’’

Taeyong knew the Chinese boy had a point. He also figured, by the noises of acknowledgement and agreement the others in the room made, that they all knew Sicheng had a point. In all fairness, Taeyong at least expected Yuta to disagree and throw a tantrum, but he too just hummed.

‘’it would be very noble of you if you ended up doing it. It would help cases like Chenle’s to stop from happening.’’ Taeyong winced at that. The poor Chinese boy had been found almost stabbed to death, completely starved from any sort of nutrition for a couple weeks, in an alleyway in the streets of Hong Kong. Jungwoo was the one who took him under his wing, guiding him to Japan and teaching him the language and the human way of life.

Taeyong hated that this still happened to ghouls who only wanted to _survive_ , and in the couple weeks that Jungwoo had known him the younger had seemed to figure Taeyong out pretty well.

‘’I guess that’s true.’’ Taeyong didn’t cave right away. There was still this nagging feeling in the back of his head holding him back. He didn’t believe all of his sins had been forgotten, especially not the incident where killed a dove, and it didn’t sit right with him that they completely disregarded that. He was sure Taeil and Youngho could do it, but Taeyong didn’t really want to think about all the other investigators he was going to have to deal with.

‘’Look, I know you’re apprehensive and all but see this as a literal life changer for so many of us! Imagine in a couple years from now, ghouls like us won’t have to live in fear anymore!’’ Yukhei mused, enthusiastic and optimistic as ever. Taeyong smiled, glad that even though the world was a terrible place, some people still found it in themselves to be positive at all times.

He was grateful for Yukhei, in a way.

‘’Maybe in a couple years after you guys have cleared our names, people can start donating meat! Scientists could start looking into ways to avoid us having to eat meat!’’ Sicheng opted, his eyes sparkling at the thought.

‘’We could live in peace.’’ Yuta continued, wrapping an arm around Sicheng with a loving gaze. Taeyong knew all of this, and by the looks of it his friends had already made the decision for him. Who was he to rip away the hope they had in their eyes? Despite the nagging feeling and the hesitance Taeyong felt as he opened his mouth, he smiled.

‘’Well, let’s text them then.’’ Yuta was gone in a flash, rushing to get Taeyong’s coat from the coat hangers next to the entrance of the café, and returned with Taeyong’s phone in hand.

As Taeyong was handed his phone, the backdoor opened and Donghyuck and Mark walked into the room. ‘’Hey!’’ Donghyuck waved and smiled, greeting everyone before he sat down. Mark waved too, one hand latched onto Donghyuck’s with their fingers intertwined.

‘’what are we doing?’’ Taeyong eyed Jungwoo for a second, anticipating Jungwoo’s reaction to Marks question. Jungwoo smiled at Mark, shaking his head. ‘’we’ll tell you guys that later.’’ Jungwoo then proceeded to eye everyone around the table. it was a silent plea to keep the kids out of the loop for now, a way of protecting them as much as Jungwoo was capable of doing.

Taeyong completely understood.

‘’aren’t you guys on grocery duty today?’’ This precinct of the NEO organization was small. It was only the ones working at the café, and everyone who worked there lived there too. It was easy for all the younger ghouls, having a roof over their heads and working in the same place. For Jungwoo, as he had explained to Taeyong two weeks back, it was a means of keeping an eye on them as best as he could.

The duo jumped up, nodding at Yuta. Jungwoo chuckled and shook his head, handing the duo a couple yen bills before they rushed off. Taeyong unlocked his phone, fiddling with the piece of paper Taeil had handed him a couple hours back. It felt heavy in his hand as he twisted it, a feeling spreading in his gut he couldn’t quite explain.

‘’what do I say?’’ He asked, eyeing the group of ghouls around him. Yuta and Sicheng both shrugged, turning their heads to look at Jungwoo. The male sighed, dropping his head in his hands for a second. ‘’Be blunt, I guess. They asked and so you answer.’’

Taeyong nodded at that, unlocking his phone and typing in the phone number on the piece of paper. As he typed the message, he could feel the tension in the room rising and for a second Taeyong felt as if he was suffocating.

‘’Now we wait.’’ He said after sending the text. Yuta turned around, fetching five coffee mugs from the cabinet before walking over to the coffee machine. ‘’I just cleaned that!’’ Yukhei whined. Yuta stuck his tongue out before pressing the on-button, effectively dirtying the machine again.

Jungwoo groaned and pointed at Yuta accusingly, ‘’You’re cleaning that after.’’

‘’Don’t act like you all don’t want coffee.’’ Yuta was met with a chorus of appreciation as he set down the kettle on the counter, handing everyone a mug.

‘’Do they want us all, or just you and Yuta?’’ Sicheng then asked, softly blowing into his coffee after pouring everyone a cup. Taeyong latched his hands onto his mug, the heat of the coffee immediately seeping through the stone and warming his hands. He looked at Yuta, who just nodded.

‘’for now all they said was us, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind a bit of extra help. We’ll see about that later, though.’’ Taeyong wanted to protect the rest of the group as best as he could. He didn’t want to get the entirety of NEO in trouble, and not just this precinct. One mistake could mean the uncovering of the entire organization that was spread around the world, and at the thought of being the reason for that Taeyong shivered.

‘’Well, you guys better be careful. Do you know anything else other than the information you have just given us?’’ Jungwoo asked, swirling his spoon around in his mug. Ghouls couldn’t taste sugar like normal people could. To them, it just made the drink more bitter and disgusting, and no one really knew why Jungwoo still added it into his coffee. Taeyong guessed it was to look more humane, and he couldn’t really find it in himself to judge Jungwoo for it.

‘’No, this is all we know.’’ Yuta answered, taking a sip of his coffee right after. A silence fell over the group, the only noise coming from the coffee machine shutting itself off and the clock on the wall and the cars outside.

A simple ‘ding’ from Taeyong’s phone had the tension in the room rise through the roof, and Taeyong felt his hands shake as he unlocked his phone to check the message.

‘’Great! We’ll pick you guys up tomorrow to meet the rest of the unit and to finalize some plans. What time would be convenient?’’ Taeyong read out loud, and he could hear Yukhei stifling a chuckle. ‘’he sounds like you agreed to joining them to an arcade, not enter a pit of wolves while dressed a sheep.’’ Everyone couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at Yukhei’s comment.

Taeyong then eyed Yuta, ‘’What time should we do?’’. Yuta folded his arms, turning his face to look at Sicheng before turning back to look at Taeyong. ‘’Well, our lectures end around one, so let’s say they meet us at two in front of the main entrance gate. Have them wear regular clothes, not their investigator outfits.’’ Taeyong typed in Yuta’s request and hit send, the last piece of hesitance flying away as the text message did.

 ‘’Well now that that’s settled, we should get some rest.’’ Jungwoo stood up and collected all the mugs before walking towards the sink, downing them in the water. Taeyong eyed the big window in the front, the sky now pitch black instead of the colour it had been when Yuta and him came in a couple hours before.

The sky had been grey, thick clouds withholding the sun from shining down on the world, leaving everyone in a blanket of dark greys and cold winds. Now, the streets were fairly empty, barely any people out and about. Taeyong looked back at the group of ghouls and nodded as he stood up.

‘’we should be heading back to the dorms.’’ Yuta nodded, and after saying goodbye to everyone, the duo was walking outside again. Taeyong kicked a small pebble onto the street and Yuta chuckled.

‘’I guess we’re making difficult life choices now, huh?’’ Taeyong knew this wasn’t an easy thing to do. It would be scary, a big leap without knowing the outcome. They’d be judged, their lives would be on the line and things would get rough. There was no way around it, this was a difficult life choice they had to make.

But, the green haired ghoul found himself to be excited, among all things. He would be working with Youngho, a strangely attractive and kind male, who somehow peeked Taeyong’s interest terribly, to the point where he couldn’t stop thinking about the investigator while doing his homework, in class or even in bed at night.

The male his face was somehow always in Taeyong’s mind, a weird tingly feeling in his gut coming along with it. It was a feeling Taeyong had never felt before, an unfamiliar stir in his gut at the mention of the male’s name. He couldn’t say he hated it, but it confused him to no end.

‘’I guess we are, yeah.’’

 

It didn’t take long for their lecture to end, and Yuta and Taeyong found themselves standing at the main entrance gate faster than Taeyoung would have liked. Due to some very important topics being discussed in Economics -the growth and fall of the Japanese yen over the past decennia compared to other currenices, which Yuta for some reason found very interesting- the both of them hadn’t been able to think about the meeting, or discuss what to say or do for that matter, other than a brief conversation while getting ready and walking to their class.

It stressed Taeyong out, because the only thing they had agreed on was the fact that if they were attacked the moment they got into the car, they’d attack too. And that was something Taeyong _really_ didn’t feel like doing, even if it meant his own life being in danger.

‘’They’re here.’’ Yuta’s words were short, curt almost, and Taeyong knew that Yuta was nervous too. The younger of the two elbowed Taeyong, who was mindlessly drawing patterns into the sky with his eyes, and pointed at the two men walking up to them.

‘’Good afternoon!’’ Taeil was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt, so he blended in perfectly with the student body bustling around them. Youngho, on the other hand, was clad in a pitch black suit. He stood out like a sore thumb, and Taeyong felt himself tense up as a girl stopped and looked at Youngho, her mouth wide open.

For some odd reason, Taeyong felt jealousy rise in his chest. He willed it down, however, and shook the men their hands. ‘’I’m very glad you guys agreed to this. We’ll talk business at headquarters.’’ Taeyong and Yuta were led to a sleek black car, and Yuta grumbled. ‘’so much for trying to be subtle.’’ His words were just below a whisper, and Taeyong hoped the two investigators in front of them hadn’t heard him.

As they settled into the car, Youngho drove off. Taeyong was seated in the back on the right, and every time he turned his face he could see him. One hand on the wheel, the other one lazily in his lap. For some reason, Taeyong thought it was incredibly attractive and for a second he allowed himself to admire Youngho’s hands, before snapping himself out of it with a groan.

‘’I thought we agreed on student clothes, not a suit.’’ Yuta snarked, and Taeyong gasped. He hit his friend on the thigh quickly, making the other chuckle. Taeyong turned his head to gage the two other males their reactions and was met with a snicker from Taeil.

‘’Youngho just came out of a meeting.’’ Youngho made a noise of appreciation, ‘’I hope it doesn’t bother you too much.’’ He then added to Taeil’s words. Yuta shrugged before sitting himself back against the leather seat.

‘’It’s alright.’’ Taeyong proceeded to say, and Youngho smiled at him through the mirror in the front. Taeyong looked away, hoping the other wouldn’t catch a soft blush spreading on his cheeks.

‘’So at the station you guys will meet Ten and Kun. I warn you, Ten is very- how do I say this in the most friendly way possible?’’ Taeyong eyed Taeil through the rear view mirror and frowned. Youngho, however, chuckled,

‘’Ten is very _peculiar._ He truly has a mind of his own and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. He might get all up in your business even if you just met him.’’ Youngho added, once again finishing Taeil’s sentence. Taeil seemed to agree with Youngho’s words, because he didn’t add anything onto it.

Taeyong remembered Ten. He was the rather small guy who had walked up to him and Yuta seated in the cafeteria while eating lunch, asking about Taeyong’s hair. Even Taeyong agreed with Youngho’s words.

‘’Kun, on the other hand, is very calm and collected. They balance each other out perfectly, in a way.’’ Yuta hummed as form of an answer for the both of them, and Taeil fell quiet. Youngho turned the corner, and as they drove up to a skyscraper Taeyong had seen on the television more times than he could count, he opened his mouth again.

‘’Oh, and they’re dating. Just a fair warning to get rid of any confusion that might occur.’’ Taeyong frowned at that. What could possibly happen that might confuse him more than he already was?

Apparently, that was very much possible. After the horrendous entrance they made, having to shut off the gates that checked every single employee just for Yuta and Taeyong to get through, multiple workers at that moment in the lobby staring at them, they were greeted in a conference room by Ten sitting in what Taeyong assumed to be Kun’s lap, his head neatly tucked in the crook of Kun’s neck.

‘’Oh, hello.’’ Kun spoke up as they walked in, and Ten’s head shot up almost immediately. ‘’You’re here!’’ He bounced himself off of Kun’s lap onto his feet, speeding his way over to Taeyong and Yuta with a smile.

‘’Hello, I-‘’

‘’I know who you are. You’re Nakamoto Yuta, and this is Lee Taeyong. Or should I say, the green maniac?’’ Yuta’s introduction was interrupted by Ten, who was now walking in circles around them, mumbling to himself. Kun, on the other hand, made his way over very swiftly and slow, nodding at Taeil and Youngho who have started to settle onto a chair in the room as a way of greeting them.

Kun wrapped his hand around Ten’s wrist, effectively stopping the energized boy from walking any more circles around Taeyong and Yuta. Taeyong sighed gratefully, his chest destressing the tiniest bit as Ten stops walking.

‘’Oh, and this is Kun!’’ Ten introduced Kun with a smile on his face that could rival the sun, and Taeyong couldn’t help but smile, too. He eyed Yuta for a second, and Yuta seemed rather comfortable as well, a smile on his face too.

‘’Okay, let’s talk business for a second.’’ Youngho’s voice rung through the room, making Taeyong jolt up. Ten led them to a seat, and Taeyong sat down next to Yuta and Ten. Almost immediately, Kun grabbed a hold of Ten’s hand, and Taeyong now realized why Youngho had warned him and Yuta about the fact that Kun and Ten were dating. He was thankful, the element of surprise taken away by sheer curiosity.

‘’We’ll get straight to the point; we want to clear out illegal and criminal ghoul organizations out of Tokyo.’’ Taeyong’s eyes widened at that. As far as he knew, due to the new information that was given him simply by spending his free time in the NEO café, there were a lot of them around the place. Some bigger than others, some more criminal and violent than others.

‘’We’re starting small.’’ Ten stood up and walked toward a big screen in the room. Taeyong followed him every movement and watched as a beamer projected a chart like drawing on the screen.

‘’Starting small?’’ Yuta asked, an ironic undertone detectable in his voice. Taeyong agreed. The entirety of Tokyo wasn’t small.

‘’It’s a bit optimistic, isn’t it?’’ Taeyong butted in. Youngho turned to look at him and nodded, a small smile creeping onto his face.

‘’we’re aware it’s somewhat _ambitious_ , but we like to strive for perfection.’’ For some reason, the way Youngho said it sends chills down Taeyongs spine, leaving the ghoul trembling in his chair for a few moments before snapping out of it.

‘’We need your guys’ strength and knowledge. We’re aware you’re not willing to snitch on your friends, or your own organization, and that’s alright. NEO isn’t a bad organization, and in fact, we’ve been in contact with some of their branches all over the world for quite some time.’’ Taeyong’s mouth fell open at that. He looked at Yuta, who was looking at him, and it all clicked inside Taeyong’s head.

This was the reason why Jungwoo wanted them to join the unit. He knew that NEO had been in contact with other establishments of the CCG for some time, and he figured it was Japans time to shine. Jungwoo had known Yuta and him wouldn’t be throwing themselves into a pit of wolves while dressed up as sheep, and somehow that was equally as comforting as it was intimidating. Jungwoo was way younger than him and Yuta, looked extremely adorable and wouldn’t hurt a fly, but he had knowledge. He had information, data that only a few others knew and that was a scary thought, even to Taeyong.

‘’Alright, now that that’s out of the way, we just want to talk for a second.’’

 

Taeyong and Yuta were once again walking to their dorm, the sky pitch black again and the atmosphere between them comfortable. After discussing different arrangements, the unit -which was conventionally named Mix 140- came to an agreement on a work schedule. Every day, from now on, Yuta and Taeyong would be updated on progress made in the organisation, and they’d be expected to show up to ‘work’ whenever paged, as long as it was out of lecture hours.

Since graduation was coming closer and closer, lectures wouldn’t be that big of an issue. Both of them had high grades and could afford to miss some lectures, borrowing notes from classmates or some other solution Taeyong would come up with later on. The assignments and the work they were going to have to do wasn’t that big of a deal either, Sicheng and Jungwoo offering to give a hand whenever they needed it.

Luckily for the both of them, they had been able to do their thesis early on in the year, and were free of that burden as much as they could be. Taeyong was glad they were able to help as much as they could, Yuta agreeing with him.

So far, the unit had set their eyes on one organization. They planned to take it one step at a time, and the ghoul organization EXOdius was going to be the first they would tackle.

‘’This may sound weird, but I’m kind of really excited. I feel like a secret agent, almost.’’ Taeyong chuckled at Yuta’s words as they entered their dorm, shaking his head. Of course he was excited. There was a weird feeling of satisfaction that had settled in Taeyong’s body, spreading to the furthest area’s from his pinkies to his small toes. The thought of being able to have something to do with the clearing up of the ghoul reputation set his skin aflame in pride.

‘’I’m excited too. This is going to be amazing for us all.’’ Taeyong spoke not only for himself, but also for the other ghouls. The innocent kids who didn’t know that what they were born as was wrong. The ghouls who were just trying to form a normal life, live normally and civilized among the people. It wasn’t them who gave the Ghouls as a whole a wrong name. It were the ones who couldn’t stop murdering, feasting and ravaging the humans. It were the ghouls who joined bad organizations, greedy and manipulative to the bone only for one purpose; their own greed.

Taeyong was ready to face those ghouls head on.

The fact that he got to do it with such a handsome man on his team, was a bonus point. Taeyong was very much aware that nothing could ever happen between him and Youngho, but he allowed himself to let his thoughts wander. As he laid down in bed after getting ready, he allowed himself to think about Youngho’s hands, his lips, his eyes and his hair. He allowed himself to imagine what it would feel like with Youngho’s arms around his waist as they snuggled in bed, or what it would feel like to have Youngho buried deep within him.

Taeyong shot up, his eyes wide as he realized where he had let his thoughts wander. He was fucked from head to toe.

 

‘’So, all we know is that EXOdius is being lead by nine leaders. All of them are very strong ghouls, most of them having an SS rating. The others have an SSS rating. We don’t know much about them, the information we have on them is scarce. We know they have power, and sources from outside the city. They have a very complicated network of spies and the likes that we don’t know about.’’ Kun was standing next to the board this time, holding a marker as he pointed out something on the map.

‘’this is where the latest victim of one of the EXOdius members was found. They always leave a flag with their logo on it.’’ Taeyong scoffed at that. ‘’it’s almost like they’re taunting you.’’

It had been two weeks, and Yuta and him had grown remotely comfortable around the unit. Most of the days they spent cooped up in the same meeting room, sometimes going out for lunch or anything of the likes to stretch their legs from sitting too long. Ten had been a massive help in the process of the duo growing comfortable, and Taeyong was now confident enough to speak up without being asked during meetings.

So far, the information they had gathered wasn’t a lot. Most of the time in the meeting room was spent contemplating, researching and theorizing on the organization. Outside of the meetings, Yuta and Taeyong tried their hardest to gain information on the organization. Jungwoo had used some of his networks to gather some data, but even that hadn’t been enough.

EXOdius was covered in a thick layer of mystery, and it aggravated Taeyong to no end.

Yuta sat up straight beside Taeyong, gaining the attention of everyone in the room as he cleared his throat. ‘’didn’t you have three of their leaders captured a couple years back?’’ Taeyong frowned, his eyebrows coming together. This was new information to him.

He turned to look at the others, and Youngho was the first to nod. He made eye contact with Taeyong for a split second, and Taeyong felt himself blush, before Youngho carried on.

‘’We had them captured for a while yeah. They weren’t that strong back then. They were building their empire at the time and very fragile in some aspects, security being their biggest flaw. We managed to get three of their leaders, that’s correct.’’ Taeyong frowned, confusion clear on his face.

‘’what happened to them?’’

‘’We were forced to kill the strongest one, as we couldn’t capture him. We held the other two in captivity for a while, but they wouldn’t succumb to any sort of torture for information. The weakest one gave in after a few months of excruciating torture, but all he told us is that EXOdius has nine leaders remaining, and that ‘one day they’ll come and avenge us all’. That’s a direct quote from mister Lu Han himself.’’ Taeil said, both of his index fingers massaging his temples.

The name Lu Han didn’t ring a bell in Taeyong’s head, and as he turned his head to look at Yuta, he recognized his face to be in just as much confusion as he was. Taeyong turned his eyes back to the board, eyeing the map filled with red and blue dots around the city. All of them had been kills with the same logo found at the crime scene. Whether it was a small flag or the logo etched into someone’s skin, it was there. Taunting them.

‘’What happened to the third one?’’ Taeyong couldn’t help but ask, and Youngho chuckled, clearly amused by his curiosity.

‘’He managed to kill himself with a Q bullet from one of our investigators while undergoing an interrogation. Huang Zitao was a very strong ghoul, but also had the brains. If we still had him, he’d be a massive help right now.’’ Youngho finished off the story by putting his pen down and leaning back into his chair, smirking at Taeyong.

He looked good today, the younger of the two noticed. He was only wearing black slacks and a white blouse, the sleeves rolled up to his elbow, and it looked incredibly good on him, despite his robotic arm. Youngho looked like a very successful CEO, and Taeyong had a hard time covering his blush.

No one in the room seemed to notice the interaction other than Taeyong and Youngho themselves, and Ten continued on. ‘’Their other leader, who the units at the time had to kill on the spot, was named Wu Yifan. We knew he had ties to the Chinese organization that the CCG in Hong Kong completely uncovered and took over two years ago, so we hoped to get some information from the captured ghouls there. In the end, we got literally close to nothing.’’ Taeyong sighed, shaking his head.

‘’Do we have an estimated location? Somewhere we guess they are settled?’’ Kun nodded at that, pressing some buttons on his Ipad to draw some lines on the already filled map. ‘’They mostly operate in these prefectures and wards, and so we are led to believe that their headquarters is somewhere around here.’’ Kun drew a green circle around a big portion of the southern part of town, and Yuta groaned.

‘’that could literally be anywhere.’’ It wasn’t a funny thing, rather tragic if you keep the situation at hand in mind, but everyone in the room couldn’t help but snicker. Yuta was right, and everyone knew it.

‘’It isn’t a lost cause, however, because we are waiting on some new intel from some investigators in this ward.’’ Ten pointed at a small square on the map, and everyone nodded. ‘’We have some ghouls inside the organization at the moment who are willing to help us, too, and we’re meeting up with them next week to gather some information.’’ Taeil mentioned, and Taeyong sighed in relief.

‘’So basically all we can do now is speculate, patrol around the highlighted wards and theorize.’’ Kun said as he sat down, carefully putting the Ipad on the table. Taeil reached over and swiped the picture away, it now being a display screen of a document Taeyong had never seen in his life.

‘’what’s that?’’ Yuta beat him too it, asking the question before Taeyong could. ‘’that’s a ghoul registration form.’’ Ten explained, and instead of taking the empty chair next to Kun, he sat down on the male’s lap, a big grin on his face as Kun kissed his shoulder. Taeyong looked away for a second, only to be met with Youngho’s eyes looking at him. He blushed for the thousandth time that day, turning his attention back onto Ten.

‘’what’s it for?’’ He asked, his voice wavering as he could still feel Youngho’s gaze on him. This compared with the thoughts Taeyong had been having over the past two weeks was complete and utter torture for him.

‘’This is something the CCG has had in their arsenal of plans for the future for a while. Ghouls who want to live a normal life, can register on these forms. They’ll be seen as regular human beings by legal papers, and will be send a package of meat every month under a monthly fee. We’ve been busy setting up a donor like system, but it’s all just papers for now. Once we get the big organizations out of this town and therefor mostly out of Japan, we can get this started.’’ Taeil’s words sounded like a dream to Taeyong, and he almost wanted to cry.

Something he had wanted for literally his entire life had been in the works for a very long time, and he had never known about it.

‘’Of course, not everyone in the CCG agrees. Most of them still believe every ghoul is the same and that they all deserve death and despair. Only the ones working with us,’’ Kun pointed at himself and then at Ten, ‘’know about this and agree with it.’’

‘’Is that why Youngho is in this unit as a first class investigator from the second division?’’ Yuta asked. Taeyong shot his head up from looking at the table to look at Youngho, who just nodded. It was weird that this topic had never come up in the two weeks that they had been working together, because Taeyong was rather curious himself.

‘’That’s in fact exactly the reason why I’m a part of this unit. I was the only one in my position that agreed with the plan, and so the president asked me to join the unit and set it all up. It’s been in the works for almost a year now, and we hope that as soon as most of the big criminal organizations get uncovered we can get this system up on its feet.’’ Youngho answered Yuta’s question skilfully, and Taeyong smiled from ear to ear. He didn’t know why, but the man’s voice was like music to his ears.

A warm feeling spread through his chest as the meeting continued on, and before they knew it, they were all walking out of the room. Youngho was the one escorting Yuta and Taeyong this time around, the three of them making their way down by elevator.

The entirety of the CCG, at least this establishment, was aware of what was going on. The word had gotten around and so everyone knew who exactly Yuta and Taeyong were. It felt like walking around a lion’s cage wearing nothing but meat to Taeyong, the stares they received while walking around the building sticking to his skin, making him almost feel ashamed of what he was doing.

The unit always made a point of walking them back, because they knew what would happen if they didn’t. Whether it was Ten, Kun, Youngho or Taeil, there was always someone there for safety. Taeyong appreciated it, but it also made him feel like a five year old toddler who didn’t know his way home.

‘’Good work today.’’ Youngho commented as they got into the elevator, and Yuta smiled. Over the past two weeks, even Yuta had grown more comfortable. Of course, there was this ever staying hate for the CCG and the things they did to people like Taeyong and him, but Yuta was slowly finding his place.

They had talked about the time Youngho and Taeil did the lecture in class a couple days back during lunch. Yuta had asked their ears off about what they showed, including the picture of the six year old boy, and had ranted about how that was exactly the reason why the human race hated ghouls as a whole.

Youngho and Taeil had defended themselves, but did agree with Yuta’s point. Even Taeyong got a bit heated and he was still ashamed of it, but they got their point across. To Youngho’s and Taeil’s defence, they didn’t write the actual presentation. It was something the college board wanted to discuss, wanted to _warn_ their students of the possibility of running into a ghoul.

Yuta had complained further while Taeyong and him made their way back to the dorms that day, and Taeyong had taken the liberty of defending their now co-workers.

‘’We learned a lot.’’ Taeyong replied to Youngho as the doors slid open again. They made their way to the exit, Taeyong and Yuta avoiding the gates, and were outside right after. It hadn’t gone completely dark yet, the sun setting slowly.

‘’That we did.’’ Yuta said, and right after his phone rang. Taeyong smiled at him as Yuta walked off, phone now against his ear. It was probably Sicheng, ready to ask the boy his ear off about their meeting. He did it every single time Yuta and Taeyong went, and it was as much endearing as it was annoying.

‘’So, how are you?’’ Taeyong turned his head to look at Youngho, and smiled. ‘’I’m fine, really. It’s great to know that such a thing is in the works.’’ Youngho nodded at that, and Taeyong noticed his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. The smile that spread itself onto Youngho’s face made a funny feeling erupt in Taeyong’s stomach and a blush cover his cheeks.

He looked away, eyeing the people going about their days on the busy streets of Tokyo, but he could still feel Youngho’s eyes on him. It wasn’t uncomfortable, oddly enough, because usually whenever someone stared at Taeyong for longer than necessary, he’d get fidgety. For some reason, Youngho’s stare was comforting, in a way.

Taeyong got hit with the sudden urge to hug Youngho, because he didn’t have many people he was one hundred percent comfortable with. He blushed even harder, and Youngho coughed. ‘’Would you, maybe, want to have dinner with me sometime?’’

Taeyong’s eyes widened at that. He moved his gaze back to look at Youngho to see the older smiling at him, a small hint of nervousness in his eyes and Taeyong felt bad. Ghoul’s weren’t supposed to date humans. It was dangerous, in many ways other than the fact that Taeyong needed _human flesh_ to survive. It was frowned upon, and the only case of it happening that Taeyong had ever heard about was ten years ago, when a human girl and a ghoul boy fell in love.

The ghoul refused to eat anything, and it came to the point that he would go absolutely feral when smelling flesh. He ended up killing his girlfriend, and he let himself be killed by the CCG three days later.

Taeyong shivered thinking about it, and no matter how much he wanted to say _yes_ because he genuinely did take a liking to Youngho, he opened his mouth to refuse. Youngho, however, seemed to have different plans as he raised his hand.

‘’I’m aware of the risks, believe me Taeyong, but I just want to get to know you.’’ Taeyong couldn’t fight that logic even if he desperately wanted to. Youngho was an investigator, for Christ sake, and knew the ins and outs of a ghoul and their lifestyle like the back of his hand. And who was to say that he meant dinner in a ‘let’s go on a date’ type of way?

‘’I was going to argue on that, but seeing as you’re the professional and all, I think I’ll lose that argument really quickly. I’d love to go out to dinner with you, then.’’ Youngho smiled and grabbed a hold of Taeyong’s hand and squeezed it softly before letting go. Before Taeyong could say anything else, though, Yuta walked back into view.

‘’That was Sicheng, we have to rush back to the shop. Everyone’s waiting for us with dinner.’’ Taeyong nodded at that and waved at Youngho, receiving a smile and a wink in return. Yuta shouted a quick ‘bye’ before they took off to catch the next train back to their ward.

 

Youngho definitely meant it in the ‘let’s go on a date’ type of way, or so Taeyong discovered two weeks later. After texting back and forth and the occasional flirtatious remark during meetings, they had set a date. It was a Friday night and the weather was getting significantly warmer as the days went by, slowly making their way towards spring season.

They walked along the pathway in a comfortable silence, their hands intertwined in such a way that Taeyong wasn’t holding Youngho’s robotic arm. Youngho, thankfully, was gentleman enough to not take Taeyong to a restaurant and make him eat regular food. Instead, they went to a food court in the park and Youngho ordered something to eat for himself. Taeyong’s heart was beating in his throat by now, his face permanently covered in a blush as Youngho kept holding on to his hand.

Taeyong was aware this situation wasn’t natural, at all. He was perfectly aware that this was weird, so against any social rule he had ever come across in his life, but yet, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Youngho was sweet, nice, incredibly handsome and he was helping Taeyong’s race to get justice. How could Taeyong not take a liking to him?

‘’It’s weird, isn’t it?’’ Taeyong asked as they stopped walking in front of the pond. Youngho chuckled and turned to look at Taeyong with a small smile on his face. ‘’it is, isn’t it?’’ there was a twinkle in Youngho’s eyes that Taeyong couldn’t help but see, and it made him smile.

‘’I was astonished by your beauty even before I knew you were the Green Maniac, though.’’ Taeyong hadn’t heard that name in a couple of weeks. Ever since they had started working with the CCG, both him and Yuta hadn’t used their masks anymore. They were safely tucked away in their respective desk drawers back in the dorms, and were living on flesh provided by Jungwoo.

Taeyong had an inkling, an idea, where Jungwoo could be getting it, but he hadn’t asked yet to confirm anything.

‘’How so?’’ Taeyong asked, a smile on his face. The butterflies in his stomach flew around like crazy, his whole body warm despite the temperature dropping the later it got.

Youngho shrugged, ‘’I saw you walk into the classroom during the lecture. I really only saw the back of your head at that point, so I didn’t see your hair due to your beanie, and I was just kind of starstruck at how beautiful someone could be from just the back. When you sat down and I could somewhat make out your face from the distance, I knew I just had to talk to you.’’ Taeyong chuckled,

‘’And you’re telling me that finding out I was the Green Maniac didn’t change _anything_?’’ They were stood face to face now, their hands no longer intertwined. Youngho shook his head. ‘’It complicated things a bit, sure, but I was determined to make you talk to me. Finding out you were a strong ghoul that we could work with in our investigation unit was an heaven sent opportunity.’’ He took the last bite of his finger food, his robotic fingers clenching as he clutched the napkin in his hand.

Taeyong smiled at the thought of Youngho finding out that Taeyong was chosen to join the unit by the CCG. It made his head fuzzy and his heart jump in his chest.

‘’Well, when I first walked into the lecture hall and saw you I had to do a double take.’’ Youngho snickered at that, shaking his head. ‘’why do I have a hard time believing that?’’

‘’You can ask Yuta! He was there. Scolded me for it, even.’’ Taeyong retorted, hitting Youngho in the chest with his hand. He let it sit there for just a second before letting it slide off. A silence fell over them again, the sounds of the ducks in the pond and people around them the only noises left in the world.

It was Youngho who broke the silence.

‘’are you nervous for tomorrow?’’ Taeyong truthfully had no correct way to answer that question. They were going to scout out a location tomorrow with a group of investigators involved in the investigation, that might be the place where EXOdius is settled. The intel the unit received from the spies within the organization was vague and let them to four different buildings. The chances were slim that the area they were going to cover tomorrow was going to be _the_ building, but somehow Taeyong was still nervous.

‘’Yeah, I guess.’’ It was weird, because as long as he didn’t think about it, he didn’t feel the nerves.

‘’That’s understandable. We probably won’t find anything, though. So no need to worry about that.’’ Taeyong wasn’t scared, necessarily. They hadn’t met the other investigators coming along, which was slightly worrying, but Taeyong felt that as long as he had Youngho with him he’d be fine.

‘’Can I ask you something?’’ Taeyong asked after a few more moments of silence. He looked up to look Youngho in the eye and watched the older nod, taking Taeyong’s hand in his with his human hand and smiling.

‘’How did you find me that night?’’ Youngho’s facial expression went through a rollercoaster of emotions, before settling on a somewhat relaxed face. Taeyong knew Youngho knew which night he was talking about, and it had been bothering Taeyong for a while now.

‘’I followed you.’’ The sentence was short, but it struck a nerve. Taeyong frowned, ‘’how?’’ he asked. He wasn’t scared, wasn’t appalled, just very confused. He hadn’t noticed anyone following him that night, and he wasn’t anywhere close to the campus. How did Youngho find him?

‘’How?’’ Youngho shrugged at Taeyong’s question.

‘’The CCG has eyes everywhere, and someone notified us that you were seen walking down the street. They recognized your face, and so I was called in as the head of the unit. I was ecstatic, truly, and after I was told that you looked absolutely miserable and malnourished, I knew what I had to do.’’ Taeyong blushed at that, hearing the worry Youngho had for him even then.

‘’Why your arm though?’’ Taeyong pressed on, his curiosity getting the better of him.

‘’We had it stored for a while at that time. My mother genuinely believed they would find a way to put it back on somewhere in the near future, but I managed to convince her to just throw it away a couple days before that night. She didn’t actually throw it away, she just gave it to me. I didn’t know what to do with it, and I knew my AB negative blood would help massively. After all, we had to keep you alive for the unit.’’ Taeyong didn’t know what to say. If Youngho hadn’t given him his arm he would have probably died that night, somewhere in a ditch of a nasty alleyway. He was beyond grateful and happy that the reason Youngho gave him the arm wasn’t just so he was in debt with him. He felt his heart seize up, and for a second he swore he could see Youngho leaning in just as he did too.

A cell phone rang, and Taeyong groaned as he recognized the ring tone to be Yuta’s. Youngho pulled back with a smirk on his face. Taeyong was forced to hold back a whine, desperately wanting to kiss Youngho, but he moved to grab his phone anyway.

‘’Taeyong speaking, what’s up?’’ He basically growled into the microphone. Yuta chuckled on the other side of the line, and Taeyong was quite ready to strangle him.

‘’ _I don’t want to like, nag or something or sound like a mother, but it’s getting late and we have a very important mission tomorrow._ ’’ Taeyong sighed. He knew Yuta was right. It was getting later and later, it now being almost fully dark, and the commute to the college campus would take at least an hour, if not more.

‘’I know. I’ll come home in a minute.’’ Taeyong replied. Yuta made a noise of confirmation, before hanging up the phone. Taeyong sighed as he pocketed his phone, and looked up at Youngho to see him staring at the water. He stayed quiet for a bit, letting Youngho have a moment of peace because Taeyong knew the man didn’t get it often.

‘’I’ll walk you to the station.’’ Taeyong nodded appreciatively at Youngho’s words a few minutes later, and the duo made their way out of the park towards the nearest station. Youngho grabbed Taeyong’s hand in his, and the younger of the two blushed feverishly as they walked on.

 

It was quiet. An eerie type of quiet. The atmosphere was thick as the unit made their way down the street, the abandoned buildings around them towering over the group of people like predators. Which was funny, considering four out of twelve people in the group were actual predators.

Taeyong and Yuta were introduced to the unit joining them that morning. There were six people in the unit; Jaehyun, an apprentice investigator with his assigned trainer Donghae, Doyoung, also an apprentice investigator with his assigned trainer Heechul, an investigator called Jooheon and the first female investigator Taeyong had an interaction with, Seulgi.

There wasn’t a lot of talking going on, except for the questions Seulgi would ask Yuta and Taeyong every now and then about life as a ghoul. She was scarily interested, but Taeyong took a liking to her.

‘’I’m amazed you guys go to college.’’ They hadn’t arrived at the building they were looking for just yet, and so there was free range to whisper as much as anyone would like. Taeyong smiled at Seulgi’s comment, turning to look at her.

‘’I followed the school system like any human child would. Same goes for Yuta.’’ Seulgi’s eyes widened at that even further, and Yuta chuckled. ‘’You’re in an organization, right?’’ Seulgi turned to Yuta this time, leaving Taeyong room to trail back a bit to walk next to Youngho and Jaehyun.

Immediately, Taeyong noticed the way Jaehyun was eyeing him. He had this hostile look in his eyes, something close to mere disgust, and Taeyong shivered. He fastened his pace again before Youngho or Jaehyun could say anything.

He walked along Doyoung and Heechul, striking small talk with the two. Heechul was significantly older and wiser, the same rank as Youngho was in the investigator ranks. He was talkative, for sure, and Taeyong allowed himself to listen with Doyoung as Heechul talked.

The group fell silent again as they approached the street of the abandoned factory they were going to scout. It was an old computer factory, the outer walls were adorned with graffiti that Taeyong couldn’t read from this distance.

‘’Everyone!’’ Donghae spoke up, his voice just above a whisper. Everyone huddled around him in a circle, hidden from view behind a different building. ‘’We’re going to split up in groups of three. I want a ghoul with every group, as a means of protection when we do find something. If under attack, use these.’’ Donghae handed a tiny device to Youngho, Heechul and Jooheon. ‘’The groups are Youngho, Jaehyun and Taeyong, Yuta, Taeil and Heechul, Kun, Doyoung and me and the last one is Ten, Seulgi and Jooheon,’’ Taeyong watched as Donghae took out a drawn map of what they assumed to be the lay out of the factory, and assigned every trio a direction to go into.

Kun and Ten had taken the liberty to investigate and draw up the lay outs of the other factories around them, some of them still intact, and made an estimation of how this one might be laid out. It was based on guesses and intuition, but Taeyong knew that Ten and Kun knew what they were doing.

‘’Understood?’’ Taeyong gave Donghae a firm nod, just like everyone else in the group, and they immediately split up. The first trio to walk up to the building was Donghae’s unit. Kun kissed Ten square on the mouth before walking off, and Taeyong could clearly see that Ten was tense. He was worried, naturally, for what they might find in there.

‘’Be careful.’’ He whispered to Yuta as his best friend walked by, and Yuta smiled and nodded. ‘’you too.’’

Five minutes of silence later, Heechul’s unit walked into the building. Taeyong was stood next to Youngho, the older of the two leaning slightly towards Taeyong, and Taeyong appreciated it. It was comforting, a little bit, and ever since the almost kiss they had shared the night before he was craving Youngho’s touch. Even though they weren’t exactly touching, due to the other investigators still around, Taeyong was satisfied.

Another five minutes passed, and this time Jooheon’s unit moved. Seulgi, Ten and Jooheon walked through the big bronze doors, while the other trio’s had chosen side entrances. It was a strategy completely based on what area of the factory they had to investigate, but something in Taeyong’s gut told him that splitting up wasn’t the greatest idea.

‘’Are you scared?’’ Jaehyun’s words sounded sinister, taunting almost. Taeyong looked up at him to see Jaehyun looking down at him with angry eyes, and for a split second Taeyong was really confused as to why. He had never met Jaehyun before in his life. He couldn’t possibly have done anything wrong to the man in the hour that they had met, and yet Jaehyun was shooting daggers at Taeyong every change he got.

It was unsettling to have someone like Jaehyun in his unit.

‘’No.’’ Taeyong firmly replied, shaking his head and hoping the lie wasn’t too obvious. Of course he was scared, who wouldn’t be? Walking into what _might_ be the lair of a ghoul organization that was known for their notorious kills, without the proper protection due to the higher board claiming it a non-profitable mission, was terrifying.

‘’Of course he’s not. He’s stronger than the both of us.’’ Youngho commented, making Jaehyun look at him with fire in his eyes. Taeyong decided he didn’t really like Jaehyun. At all.

‘’We shall see about that.’’ Jaehyun’s words were below a whisper, soft and he spoke them in the opposite direction of where Taeyong was standing, but he could still hear them. It sent shivers down his spine and he could feel his chest getting heavy in fear. What was that supposed to mean?

‘’It’s time for us to go in. Weapons out as soon as you hear a suspicious noise or sound. Taeyong, make sure your kagune is ready to go.’’ Taeyong nodded at that, and the three of them made their way towards the most northern entrance, a weathered down iron door at the back of the building. As soon as Taeyong took a step inside, he felt uncomfortable. As the door closed behind them, a darkness enveloped them.

Jaehyun turned on the flashlight, and they were met with a long corridor with multiple doors on the side. ‘’Don’t venture too far. I have the call device Donghae gave us, so try to stick together as much as possible.’’ Youngho whispered, and Taeyong nodded.

They walked along the corridor, opening each and every door to be met with old machines or empty rooms. By the time they reached the end of the corridor, Taeyong noticed Jaehyun was getting antsy. Youngho seemed to notice as well, ‘’What’s up with you, Jaehyun?’’ He asked, his voice soft as they turned the corner after checking.

Jaehyun shrugged, ‘’this is not the most ideal situation to be in.’’ He spat, his whisper now angry. Taeyong shivered as he felt a tuff of air against his neck, and he froze as he heard a loud ‘bang’ from somewhere close by.

‘’Weapons!’’ Youngho whispered. Jaehyun and him were quick to grab their quinque’s, and for a second Taeyong stood frozen. He watched as Jaehyun’s grew into a long, whip looking tail, and Youngho’s grew into a sword. Taeyong snapped out of it quickly, and let his wings and tentacles form. His eyes turned, and he noticed Jaehyun’s significant growth in discomfort.

Taeyong didn’t have the time to ask as a wall not even twenty metres away from them was breached, a red tentacle completely breaking through the heavy bricks.

‘’You’ve got to be kidding me.’’ Youngho said. Taeyong was quick to hide inside a doorway, pulling Jaehyun and Youngho with him. ‘’We found them?’’ He spat, is eyes trained on Youngho’s face. He was worried, and he knew Youngho was too.

‘’Isn’t that fucking obvious?!’’ Jaehyun replied, his voice a little too loud for comfort. A silence fell around them and Taeyong frowned. Just a few seconds ago there was noise all over the place, ranging from gun shots to walls being broken. It was weird to hear silence.

It didn’t last long. The wall right beside them was breached this time, and Taeyong gasped as he saw by who it was. Ten was laying in the rubble, his mouth bleeding as he stood up again. Taeyong took a step forward, ready to help a ghoul out, but was stopped by a hand wrapping around his wrist.

‘’don’t.’’ Youngho protested, but Taeyong pulled his arm away with more strength than initially necessary. He didn’t know how many members of EXOdius were present and if any of the leaders were, but if that was the case, he had to go and help out his fellow unit members.

‘’Don’t try to protect me. You said it yourself outside, I’m a strong ghoul.’’ It was the first time Taeyong allowed himself to say such a thing ever, and it was somewhat thrilling. Youngho seemed to hesitate at first, but nodded after a few minutes. Taeyong smiled at him, nodded at a fuming Jaehyun, before edging along the wall quietly.

Ten spotted him, but didn’t let it show on his facial expression. He took a step off the rubble, now standing on the factory floor again, before opening his mouth. ‘’is that all you’ve got?!’’ He yelled, and he was gone.

Ten’s kagune was a true representation of his character. Witty but kind, loving but mean when he had to be. A wing sprouted from his shoulder, firing off sharp hard objects at Ten’s target. Taeyong heard gunshots and figured that Ten’s unit had stuck together much like Taeyong, Jaehyun and Youngho had done.

He took a peek at the scene in the large hall, and was met with a fight between Ten and two other ghouls Taeyong didn’t recognize. By the looks of them and how powerful their hits were, Taeyong guessed they were leaders.

‘’C’mon fellas, let’s dance!’’ Taeyongs eyes widened as he heard Yuta’s voice, and watched his best friend jump off one of the work balconies to join Ten in the fight. Taeyong turned his head around and sought eye contact with Youngho, holding up two fingers.

Youngho edged forward, now standing next to Taeyong, and sighed. ‘’There’s two EXOdius members. Judging by their kagune, they’re leaders. Ten and Yuta are fighting them, and the gunshots are probably from their respective units.’’ Taeyong relayed the information he had gathered in such a short time to Youngho, who nodded.

‘’This corridor goes around the big factory hall. See if you and Jaehyun can make it to the other side of the hall and attack from behind.’’ Taeyong was reluctant to leave Youngho alone. ‘’But what about you?’’ He asked.

A gunshot was fired once again, and a split second later a loud crash could be heard. Taeyong didn’t dare to look at what happened. ‘’If Ten and Yuta are here, so are Taeil and the others from their units. I’ll find them.’’ Taeyong wasn’t completely reassured by this, but he knew he had no other choice. He nodded and in a surge of confidence, placed a kiss on Youngho’s cheek before edging towards Jaehyun.

His cheeks were covered in a blush, but he didn’t dare look back to see how Youngho was coping. Instead, he turned to Jaehyun. Jaehyun was looking at him with so much hate in his eyes, and Taeyong didn’t trust him, but he had to follow orders.

‘’We have to follow the corridor and go around. We can attack from the back.’’ Jaehyun frowned, ‘’who’s idea was that?’’

‘’Youngho’s.’’ The fact that Jaehyun didn’t trust Taeyong’s words in a situation like this stung for a few moments, right until Jaehyun nodded. They both rushed down the corridor, checking before turning the corner.

They started to run along the long hallway, but apparently hadn’t checked well enough as two men popped up out of what seemed like literally nowhere.

‘’Fuck.’’ Jaehyun spat as they both stopped running. Taeyong eyed the two men in front of them, and was intimidated almost immediately. One of them was incredibly tall and intimidating, his face hidden by a mask that represented a snake. His kagune was a huge tail like object curling around him and his partner.

The other man, on the other hand, was significantly shorter than the tall ghoul. He was broad, though, and his mask hid his entire face, the object representing nothing less but a devils mask of some sort. His kagune was tightly wrapped around his left arm. They had a kagune perfect for close combat and one for long distance combat. This was going to be hard.

‘’Look what we have here? A ghoul? With the doves?’’ The shorter of the two spat, his black and red eyes eyeing Taeyong with pure disgust. Taeyong felt himself shrink at the way the taller ghoul’s kagune meandered around them, and he could sense Jaehyun moving closer toward them.

Taeyong stopped him by extending a tentacle. ‘’Cat got your tongue?’’ The taller male spoke up, and within a split second his kagune did not only surround him and his partner, but was also edging his way toward Taeyong and Jaehyun. As a matter of reflex, Taeyong guessed, Jaehyun raised his gun toward the ghouls.

Immediately, the two ghouls in front of them reacted. The taller drew back his kagune and pointed it at Taeyong. He gasped, using one of his tentacles to protect his face from being impaled. He pushed away the taller ghoul’s tail with as much strength as he could muster, and was able to push Jaehyun behind him and open his wings as a shield before the short of the two shot two ninja stars made out of flesh.

‘’You have a magnificent style of kagune, Green Maniac.’’ At the mention of his name, Taeyong pulls his tentacle back. He was wearing his mask again, for the first time in weeks, and it felt weird being addressed as someone he hadn’t been for a while.

‘’We could really use it.’’ The taller man his voice was low, almost growl like, and Taeyong could sense Jaehyun move behind him. He let the investigator move away from behind him, the two now standing next to each other again.

‘’I’m not like you.’’ The noise around them was getting louder by the second, and Taeyong desperately wanted to run further and help his friends in battle, but he couldn’t as the two ghouls in front of him stood their ground.

He could hear taunting words being thrown back and forth, loud noises of battle echoing through the empty halls and rooms of the factory. Taeyong hoped Youngho had found the others.

The tall ghoul snickered and shook his head. ‘’of course you aren’t! you’re one of those goodie two shoes who want to be _human_!’’ The words were filled with utter disgust, but they didn’t hurt Taeyong. He knew, was completely aware, what some ghouls thought of those who chose a normal life. They didn’t belong to the Ghoul Society, didn’t fit in. Taeyong didn’t want to fit in.

‘’It’s better than murdering people.’’ He spat back, and he was startled as he heard Jaehyun snicker.

‘’Is that why you killed Yuto?’’ a silence fell over the four of them, and Taeyong turned his face to look at Jaehyun. The man had tears in his eyes and his gun was pointed at him. His eyes widened at the sight of a barrel of a gun, and he swallowed.

‘’You did that? You were the one who killed the dove? Absolutely genius!’’ The shorter EXOdius leader was laughing at this point, dramatically holding onto his partner as he shook with laughter. ‘’And you praise about not wanting to kill people?’’ The words hit Taeyong right where it hurt the most; his guilt.

He knew what he did was wrong. Taeyong was painfully aware that his rash decision to kill and feast upon a dove was one of the worst decisions he had ever made in his life. It hurt thinking about it, and by the looks of Jaehyun’s face, it hurt him too.

‘’Why now?’’ Taeyong whispered, hoping Jaehyun would hear him. A loud bang could be heard from somewhere down the hall, the ground vibrating with the insane amount of power. Jaehyun chuckled darkly, and turned his head around.

It happened in a flash. All of a sudden bullets were flying through the air, the kagune’s of the EXOdius leader everywhere and nowhere. Taeyong managed to dodge the shorter ghoul his deadly arm, but was struck by something else.

He felt his arm burn like crazy in a matter of seconds and yelped in pain as he fell to the ground. His eyesight grew hazy, his head spinning as the pain shot through his entire body like rapid fire. Gun shots could be heard from around him, but all he could see was Jaehyun bending down in front of him.

‘’Ghouls like you deserve to die.’’ The words were harsh but spoken in a soft manner, and Taeyong closed his eyes as the pain took over his senses. He felt his kagune shrink back into his back, his head lowering to the floor as his body slowly went limb.

Among the screams, cries of pain and utter chaos, Taeyong slipped out of consciousness.

 

Taeyong groaned, but paused himself mid groan. His throat was incredibly dry and swallowing hurt a lot. He opened his eyes slowly, immediately closing them again as the lights in the room he was in blinded him.

‘’he’s awake!’’ Taeyong recognized that voice like no other, and he felt himself smile as he felt Yuta grab onto his hand. He opened his eyes fully this time, blinking rapidly to get used to the lights quicker. He was met with Yuta, Sicheng and Jungwoo seated by his bed. He looked around the room and recognized it to be a hospital room.

‘’Wh-where am I?’’ Taeyong cringed at his own voice, the sound scruffy and unnatural. Yuta sighed in relief, however, and was quick to hand Taeyong a plastic cup with water. ‘’You’re at CCG headquarters in the hospital wing.’’

Taeyong noticed someone else walking into the room, but didn’t pay them any mind. The mission came to mind, and he shot up in his bed. Obviously, this wasn’t the best thing to do, because his body protested almost immediately.

‘’wow, wow, wow, stay down.’’ Youngho’s voice echoed through the room, and Taeyong felt his body heat up despite the situation at hand. ‘’What happened? The mission?’’ Taeyong swallowed harshly, trying to get rid of the pain in his throat, and eyed Yuta and Youngho with confusion on his face. What had taken place?

‘’We’ll go get coffee.’’ Sicheng and Jungwoo bid their goodbye’s before walking out of the room, Yuta and Youngho now the only ones at Taeyong’s bed. ‘’how did they get in?’’

‘’We let them. They got permission to enter. The others from NEO, however, did not, so they’re somewhat peacefully waiting for you to recover.’’ Yuta answered Taeyong’s question, a smile on his face. ‘’pretty sure Jisung and Chenle are asking Yukhei’s ears off for information as we speak.’’ Taeyong giggled at that, softly relaxing into his bed.

‘’as for the mission,’’ Youngho spoke up this time, sitting down on the other side of Taeyong’s bed and taking his other hand. He started slowly caressing Taeyong;s hand with his thumb, and sighed. ‘’we managed to capture Park Chanyeol and Do Kyungsoo, the two ghouls you and Jaehyun were fighting, and Zhang Yixing. The others managed to escape before we could do anything, because, well..’’  the older of the trio kept caressing Taeyong’s hand. It took a few seconds, but then it clicked.

‘’Because of me.’’ Immediately, Yuta shook his head. ‘’Not because of you. Because of Jaehyun. He shot you with a Q bullet in your arm and that made you pass out. Your body used all its energy to keep the poison from spreading through your veins. He was the reason why we didn’t get to catch the other leaders, and he made us take a fucking train back to square one.’’ Yuta spat.

It came back to Taeyong in a blur. He remembered Jaehyun bringing up the fact that he feasted upon a dove in the middle of battle, and remembered an immense amount of pain in his arm. He frowned.

‘’Jaehyun was arrested for attempted murder of a fellow investigator. Seeing as you’re a ghoul, he probably won’t get more than just a suspension for a couple weeks and a reprimand from Donghae and his apprenticeship will probably be prolonged.’’ Youngho explained further, and Taeyong sighed.

‘’so the mission failed.’’ Youngho shook his head, a smile on his face as he squeezed Taeyong’s hand. ‘’Were you listening? We caught three of their leaders! This will help us massively in the future, Tae.’’ The nickname was new, and Taeyong blushed. He was glad they at least managed to capture three out of the nine leaders, and he was ready to find the others as soon as he recovered.

‘’Oh, school also called. Because you’re hospitalized right now, you can hand in your thesis in three weeks. You’ll still be able to graduate with me, luckily.’’ Taeyong chuckled and smacked Yuta’s arm jokingly, groaning right after at the movement.

‘’That’s good..’’ He commented. Yuta’s phone rang right after, and the Japanese boy excused himself out of the room after telling Youngho and Taeyong it was Yukhei.

‘’The doctors said you’ll be recovered enough in two days.’’ Taeyong sighed in relief. He hated hospitals, and even though this wasn’t _exactly_ a hospital, he still felt eerie. ‘’How long have I been gone?’’ Youngho’s motions for more affectionate contact didn’t go unnoticed, so Taeyong wiggled a bit to make some space.

Youngho smiled gratefully before carefully laying down next to him, pulling Taeyong’s head onto his chest. ‘’For about two weeks. I was scared you’d never wake up.’’ Youngho kissed the top of Taeyong’s head, and the younger of the two smiled. Two weeks was a long time, he realized. He must have missed a lot of things regarding the EXOdius case and catching up to everything was going to be a pain in the ass, but as Youngho held his hand tightly Taeyong was sure it would all be fine.

He turned his head to look at Youngho and noticed the older already looking down at him. Taeyong slowly leant in closer and Youngho met him halfway, pressing a soft kiss on his lips. It was quick, soft and Taeyong couldn’t help but want more.

And that’s exactly what he got. Youngho placed his hands on Taeyong’s face, pulling him back in for a longer kiss. It wasn’t rushed. It was slow, languid, and truthfully everything Taeyong had expected and more. As Youngho pulled away after a few minutes to catch a breath, Taeyong couldn’t help but smile.

Things were going to be complicated. The world was a horrible place for ghouls, still, and Taeyong wasn’t completely save from judgement just yet. As a couple consisting of a ghoul and a human they were going to be faced with a lot of nasty comments, snarky remarks and overall horrible judgement from other people. Combined with the issues they were going to face regarding Taeyong’s diet as a whole and the danger Youngho was in when it came to Taeyong being hungry, but they didn’t care.

It was going to be tough, sure, but they would get through it.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaandddd breath.. 
> 
> So? What did you all think? I enjoyed writing this a lot, trust me, but during some moments I so desperately wanted to quit and just delete the file. I'm proud of what I've written in this story, I really am, and I hope it shows in my work. It took me a while to finish this, because I wanted everything to be perfect and completely correct. I may have made some mistakes that die hard Tokyo Ghoul fans may notice, and it's okay to point them out to me! 
> 
> I love you if you read all the way through, like please have all my cuddles and smooches, and I hope I'll see you again soon for another one of my stories! 
> 
> If you want to, of course you can always contact me. I'd love to read your comments, they make my day!! 
> 
> See ya!
> 
> x Dani.
> 
> contact me:  
> You can always contact me here:  
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/softyjseo)[cc](https://curiouscat.me/softyjseo)


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